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J\mm\ Convention 
American Society of 
Civil engineers 



may 20=23. 



Souvenir Program 
Presented by 
Cocdl members 



N. T. ELLIOTT PRINTING CO. 
WASH I NGTON, D. C. 






- ft A93^ 
FEB ^^ 



CV1 

c- 
^ OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 

3 
^ PrKSIdknt, ROBERT MOORE. 

VicE-PrKSIdKnTS for one year — Term expires January, 1903. 
HENRY S. HAINEvS, GEORGE H. BENZENBERG, 

Vick-PrKSIdknTS for two years — Term expires January, 1904. 
CHAREES C. SCHNEIDER, JOHN R. FREEMAN, 

Secretary, CHAREES WARREN HUNT. 

Treasurer, JOSEPH M. KNAP. 

DIRECTORS. 

Term expires January, 1903. 
JOHN F. O'ROURKE, HENRY B. SEAMAN, 

THOMAS H. JOHNSON, JOSEPH RAMSEY, JR., 

WIELIAM H. KENNEDY. HENRY B. RICHARDSON. 

■ .♦ 
Term expires January, 1904. 

JOSIAH A. BRIGGS, GEORGE F. SWAIN, 

EMIE KUICHEING, MORDECAI T. ENDICOTT, 

EDWARD C. CARTER, FRANK C. OSBORN. 

Term expires January, 1905. 
RICHARD S. BUCK, GEORGE H. PEGRAM, 

WILLIAM J. WILGUS, WILLIAM JACKSON, 

EDMUND F. VAN HOESEN, JAMES L. FRAZIER. 

Past-Presidents, Members of the Board, 
BENJAMIN M. HARROD, ALPHONSE FTF:LEY, 

DESMOND FITZ GERALD, JOHN F. WALLACE, 

JAMES R. CROES. 

Assistant Secretary, TH0:\IAS J. INIcAHNN. 



COMMITTEES OF ARRANGEMENTS. 

OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTION. 

MORDECAI T. KXDICOTT, Chairman, 
GEORGE H. PEGRAM, CHAS. WARREN HUNT. 

LOCAL COMMITTEE. 

GEORGE W. MELVILLE, Chairman, 
JOHN BIDDLE, C. B. HUNT, 

WILLIAM M. BLACK. D. E. McCOMB, 

D. S. CARLL, ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, 

BERNARD R. GREEN, ALEXANDER M. MILLER, 

HERBERT M. WILSON. 

HEADQUARTERS. 

The headquarters of the Society, Secretar^-'s Office, Meeting 
Room, etc.. will be at the Willard Hotel. 

All meetings will be held in the Banquet Hall on the top floor. 
A clerk will be in attendance at all times in the Secretary's 
office to countersign excursion tickets, register those in attend- 
ance, distribute badges, souvenir programs, maps of Washington, 
lists of those present, tickets for river trip, and cards of identi- 
fication to President's reception, to which only members are 
invited. 

All members and guests are urged to register their names 
immediateh' upon their arrival and procure tickets for various 
events. 

There will also be present at all times in the Secretary's office 
representatives of the local membership, who will be recognized 
by their red badges, and who will be prepared to answer all 
questions concerning the city, and to arrange parties and act as 
guides to local points of interest. 

Numbered badges corresponding to printed lists of those 
attending, will be attached to red ribbons for officers and local 
committee, blue ribbons for members of all grades, and white 
ribbons for guests. 



Program* 



TUESDAY, MAY 20. 
Morning. — lo o'clock, Opening session and address of welcome. 
Afternoon. — 2.30 o'clock, Excursion to Cabin John Bridge. 
Evening. — 8 o'clock. Descriptions with lantern views. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2L 
Morning. — 9.45 o'clock Reception by President at White House. 

10.30 o'clock, Business meeting. 
Afternoon. — 2 o'clock, Excursion to Naval Gun Factory. 
Evening. — 8 o'clock. First session for professional discussion. 

THURSDAY, MAY 22. 
Morning. — 9 o'clock. Pontoon drill at Washington Barracks. 

10.30 o'clock, All-day river excursion to Fort A\'ashington, 
Marshall Hall, and Mount Vernon. 
Evening. — 8 o'clock, Second session for professional discussion. 
9.30 o'clock, Informal dance at AVillard's. 

FRIDAY, MAY 23, 
Morning. — ro o'clock Closing business session. 
Afternoon. — Visits to general points of interest. 
FH' inning. — 8 to II Reception at Corcoran Art (lallery. 



MEETINGS, 

All meetings will be held in the Banquet Hall of Willard 
Hotel. 

TuKSDAY, May 20, 10 A. M. — At the first meeting there will 
be addresses of welcome and the presentation of the Annual 
Address by the President of the Societ3\ 

The address of welcome on behalf of the District govern- 
ment will be b}^ Hon. H. B. F. Macfarland, President of the 
Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia ; that on 
behalf of the local members of the Society w411 be by Rear 
Admiral George W. Melville, U. S. N., honorary member of the 
Society and chairman of the local Committee of Arrangements. 
President Robert Moore will deliver his annual address, and the 
Secretary of the Society, Charles Warren Hunt, will sketch the 
history of the Society during the first fifty 3^ears of its life. 

Tuesday, May 20, 8 P. M. — Illustrated talks, descriptive of 
engineering work in the District, wnll be given as follow\s : 

Col. William M. Black, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E., on District 
Government. 

D. E. McComb, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E., on Sewers. 

Col. A. M. Miller, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E., on Water Supply. 

Bernard R. Green, Mem. Am. Soc, C. E., on Washington 
Monument and Congressional Librar}- Building. 

D. S. Carl, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E., on Electric System. 

Charles Moore, Esq., on Proposed Park Improvements. 

INFORMAL TOPICAL DISCUSSIONS. 

At the meetings arranged for professional discussion it is hoped that 
members will take an active interest in presenting their views on the 
topics selected, the rnle being that no speaker shall occupy more than 
ten minutes. 

The following topics have been selected by the Publication Committee. 
These will be taken up in the order given, at meetings, as stated below. 



9 

"Wednesday, May 21, 8 P. M* 

Topic No. i. — " In contract work, either public or private, is it prefer- 
able to make separate contracts for the different branches of trades 
involved, or to combine all under one general contract ? " 

Discussion opened by Geo. K. Gifford, Mem. Am. Soc. C. B. 

Topic No. 2. — " Is it possible and desirable to keep accounts of work 
in progress in such a manner as to ascertain unit costs on each class 
of work ? " 

Discussion opened by Samuel Whitney, Mem. Am. Soc. C. B. 

Topic No. 3. — "Is steel susceptible of being made as permanent a 
building material as masonry? " 

Discussion opened by Chas. G. Darrach, Mem. Am. Soc. C. B. 

Thursday, May 22, 8 P* M* 

Topic No. 4. — "In view of the numerous disasters caused by the con- 
tracting of channels, or the damming of small streams, should non- 
navigable streams be under the control of the National Government? " 

Discussion opened by Rudolph Hering, Mem. Am. Soc. C. B. 

Topic No. 5. — "Should the National Government undertake the con- 
struction and operation of irrigation works ? " 

Discussion opened by Blwood Mead, Mem. Am. Soc. C. B. 

Topic No. 6. — " Should Bngineering Practice be regulated by a code of 
ethics ? If so, how can such a code be established ? " 

Discussion opened by Geo. A. Soper, Assoc. Mem. Am. Soc. C. B. 

Friday, May 23, \0 A, M- 

Adjourned business meeting and for conclusion of topical discussion. 

EXCURSIONS AND ENTERTAINMENTS, 

For the excursion to Cabin John Bkii)(;k 011 TuicsnAv 
aftp:rnoon, May 20, inenibers and ^i^uests will take, at 2 to 2.30 
o'clock, the ''Georgetown" cars going west and north on F, 
Fonrteenth, and H streets, one block north of Willard Hotel. 
Transfers will l)e fnrnished at the Acineduct Bridge, in George- 
town, to the Cabin John and Glen I{clio cars. Returning, the 



10 

trip may be varied by taking the electric cars to Chevy Chase, 
whence transfers will be given to the Pennsylvania avenue cars 
passing Willard Hotel. The time for the trip wnll be about 
two hours. Mr. D. vS. Carll, Chief Engineer of the Capital 
Traction Company, will have charge of this excursion. 

P^or the President's Reception on Wednesday morning 
the members should be ready to leave Willard Hotel in a bod}^ 
at 9.30 o'clock, sharp. The reception will be at 9.45 o'clock. 
Members only are invited and must procure cards of admission 
at the Secretary's office. 

On Wednesday afternoon, at 2 o'clock, all those in attend- 
ance will proceed to the Naval Gun Factory, taking the green 
cars going east on PenUvSylvania avenue in front of Willard 
Hotel. The terminus of these cars is at the Navy Yard. There 
will be an exhibition and demonstration of the model tank and 
the towing and testing of ship models at 3 o'clock ; the remainder 
of the afternoon may be well spent, under the guidance of naval 
officers, Rear Admiral Terr}' in command, in visiting the great 
machine shops, in which guns, mounts, and ammunition are 
manufactured for the Nav3\ 

On Thursday .aiorning, May 22, the green cars going east 
on Pennsylvania avenue should be taken at 8.30 o'clock, sharp. 
Transfer must be made at Seventh street to the cars going 
south to their terminus at the gates of Washington Bar- 
racks. There the party will be met by Col. W. M. Black, 
Corps of P.ngineers, U. S. A., in command, w^ho will give an 
exhil)ition of pontoon bridge building at 9 o'clock, sharp. 

The party will then walk or take the cars to the w^harf of the 
Steamer Macaeester, distant about four blocks, at the foot 
of Seventh street. Those who desire may go direct from the 
hotel to the boat at 9.30 o'clock. This will leave at 10.30 o'clock 
for Fort Washington, where an exhibition will be given 
of the firing of a coast defense gun from a disappearing car- 
riage; thence to Marshall Hall, where a planked shad dinner 
will be served on arrival ; thence to Mt. Vernon, w^here the 



11 

house and tomb of Washington will be visited, and return to 
the city by 5.30 P. M. At Mt. Vernon a short address will 
be given on George Washington as surveyor and civil engineer 
by Herbert M. Wilson, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E. Tickets must be 
procured in advance at the Secretar^^'s office, the cost being 
$2 each, including the dinner and admission to Mt. Vernon 
reservation. 

The sale of tickets will close at noon on Wednesday, as it is 
necessary that the local committee know a day in advance how 
many to provide for. 

Thursday kvkning, at 9.30 o'clock, an informal dance will 
be given in the Banquet Hall at Willard's, which all who desire 
may attend. 

Friday aftkrnoon, May 23, will be devoted to sight- 
seeing, under the guidance of local members. Parties will be 
organized and will leave Willard Hotel at 2 o'clock. These 
excursions will include parties to Washington Monument, 
Capitol, Library, Geological Survey, Coast Survey, etc. For 
those who desire to devote more time to sight-seeing, parties 
may be specially arranged for some of the days above planned 
for general excursions, etc 

Tickets will be issued at the Secretary's desk to the recep- 
tion given by the Directors of the Corcoran Gallery of Art 
from 8 to II o'clock Friday evening, May 23. In addition to 
the gallery, which will repay a visit, there will be a concert by 
an orchestra and a general reception to the members and their 
guests by the local committee. The Receiving Committee will 
include the Trustees of the Gallery, the President and vSecretary 
of the Society, and members of the local committee. 



12 

General Tnforitiation- 



SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES OF WASHINGTON. 

Academy of Sciences. Organized i^ 

President, Chas. D. Walcott. 
Anthropological vSociet\\ Organized 1879. 

President, W. H. Holmes. 
Philosophical Society. Organized 1871. 

President, Richard Rathbun. 
Biological vSociet3\ Organized 1880. 

President, F. A. Lucas. 
Chemical Society. Organized 1884. 

President, W. V. Hillebrand. 
Entomological vSociety. Organized 1884. 

President, H. G. Dyar. 
National Geographic Society. Organized 1888. 

President, Alexander Graham Bell. 
Geological Society. Organized 1893. 

President, J. S. Diller. 
Historical Society. Organized 1894. 

President, John A. Kasson. 

Medical Society. Organized 1891. 

President, S. S. Adams. 

CLUBS- 

Cosmos Club. — Xo. 15 18 H street northwest. 

Metropolitan Club. — Corner of Seventeenth and H streets 
northwest. 

Century Club. — Xo. 25 Lafayette Square. 

Army and Xavy Club. — Southeast corner of Connecticut 
avenue and I street northwest. 



13 

STREET CAR LINES. 

Street car fare, 5 cents, or 6 tickets for 25 cents. 
Tickets of one line received for fare on all other lines. 
Transfer tickets can be obtained at points of intensection of 
lines belonging to the same company. 

'^ SEEING \\/'ASHINGTON ^^ OBSERVATION CARS. 

Daily and Sunday Tours. 

Cars leave office and waiting-room of the Company, 141 9 
G street northwest (Fifteenth and G streets northwest, opposite 
the Treasury Building and one block due north of Willard 
Hotel), daily at 10 A. M. and 2 and 4 P. M. Expert guide on 
each car. About twenty-five miles are covered, passing all 
important sights and requiring about two hours. Round trip, 
fift}^ cents. 

EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF "WASHINGTON. 

Mount Vkrnon, the former residence and now the Tomb of 
Washington, situated on the Potomac River, ten miles below 
the Capitol, is easily reached by steamer, which leaves daily, 
except Sunda}^, at 10 A. M. and 1.45 P. M. from the foot of 
vSeventh street southwest. The boat reaches the city on its return 
trip at 1.40 and 5.15 P. M. Fare, round trip, $1, including 
admission to Mount Vernon. The Washington, Alexandria, 
and Mount Vernon electric cars leave Pennsylvania avenue and 
Thirteen-and-a-half street on week days every hour from 10 A. M. 
to 3 P. M. 



Guiae to masbitidton. 



DRIVES AROUND WASHINGTON. 

The Soldiers' Home. — This is one of the most attractive 
drives in the suburbs of the city. The grounds are beautifully 
laid out and are kept U]) as a park. President Lincoln resided 



14 

here in the summer during his administration. It is three miles 
from Willard Hotel. 

Arlington is situated on Arlington Heights, overlooking 
the Potomac River. It formerly was the home of George Wash- 
ington Custis, and in later years was the residence of Gen. Robert 
E. Lee. The estate was sold under the confiscation act of 1863, 
and 200 acres set apart as a National Cemeter}'. Over 16,000 sol- 
diers lie buried there. General Sheridan's grave is but a short 
distance from the house. The drive is through Georgetown and 
over the Aqueduct Bridge. From the portico the view of the 
Potomac Valley is exceptionally fine and adds much to the 
pleasure of the drive. Distance from Washington, five miles. 

Fort Meyer, situated on Arlington Heights between the 
Virginia end of Aqueduct Bridge and Arlington ; one of the 
important military posts of the East, at wdiich are stationed 
both cavalry and artillery. 

Rock Creek and Zooi^ogical Parks, in the northwest, 
both afford most attractive drives over excellent roads and 
through well-kept and attractive grounds. 

Still another drive is to follow the Conduit Road along the 
north and east side of the Potomac River to Glen Echo Heights 
and Cabin John Bridge. The bridge is a magnificent structure, 
spanning Cabin John Run ; it is 20 feet wide, with an extreme 
length of 420 feet. It is one of the largest single span stone 
arches in the world. At the hotel near the bridge one can 
obtain a good dinner. 

ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 
Dr. Frank Baker, Superintendent. 

The buildings of the park are open from 9 A. M. to 5 P. M., 
while the grounds are never closed. 

This park is located two miles north of the White House. 
The 170 acres which comprise its area lie on either side of Rock 
Creek, their southern extremity being just below the Capital 



15 

Traction Company's railwa^^ bridge/ from which point they 
extend about a mile north. 

The park contains a fine collection of mammals, birds, and 
reptiles. 

The yellow cars of the Metropolitan Railwa^^ Compan}- on 
F street run to within a short distance of the Eighteenth street 
entrance. The Fourteenth street cars of the Capital Traction 
Company transfer at Fourteenth and U streets to cars which 
pass both the Eighteenth street entrance and the Connecticut 
avenue entrance. 

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

The District of Columbia is the permanent seat of Govern- 
ment of the United States, and Washington is the Capital City 
within its bounds. Its exact site was chosen b}^ President 
Washington, in accordance with a resolution passed by Con- 
gress July lo, 1790, which specified that the location should be 
upon the banks of the Potomac River, between certain limits. 
This choice was reached after a heated sectional contest, and 
conformed to the declaration that "the site of the future Capital 
should be as near as possible the center of wealth, of population, 
and of territor3\" 

The District was originally ten miles square; its center was 
very near the vSpot occupied by the Washington Monument, and 
jurisdiction was ceded to the General Government by the States 
of Maryland and Virginia. When the site was chosen George- 
town had been a thriving trading point, with extensive foreign 
commerce, for nearly a hundred 3^ears, and Alexandria was also 
a prominent settlement, but the ground occupied by the ])rescnt 
city of Washington was for the most part unimproved. 

THE CITY OF WASHINGTON. 

The ground plan of the Ca])ital is the work of Major I/Iuifant, 
a young French engineer, residing in Philadelphia, chosen b>' 
Washington for this ]nirpose. The plan was made after a 



16 

careful study of the physiography of the District, and shows a 
wonderful appreciation of the requirements of the capital of a 
great nation. 

The Capitol is the center of this plan. The north and south 
and east and west lines passing through that building divide 
the city into four quarters. Either side from the meridian line 
the streets are numbered : First street, Second street, etc. Each 
w^a}^ from the east-west line the streets are named in order from 
the alphabet: A street, B street, etc. Besides the lettered and 
numbered streets there are man}' avenues named after States of 
the Union. These avenues run in directions diagonal to the 
streets and are so arranged that several of them intersect at 
certain important points — as at the White House and at the 
Capitol. 

The streets and avenues of the cit}' are so wide (80 to 160 
feet) that in most cases only the central part is used for pave- 
ment and sidewalks, leaving a strip on either side which holders 
of adjoining propert}' are allowed to improve with flowers, 
shrubs, and trees, but ma}' not encroach upon with buildings. 

The largest park within the cit}' limits is that known as the 
Mall, which lies between the Capitol and the Washington 
Monument. In various divisions of this park are situated the 
Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, and other 
scientific bureavis and museums. (See map.) Between th^ 
White House grounds and the Monument is the President's 
Park, commonly known as the ''White Lot." 

Within the past few 3'ears the park area of the city has been 
more than doubled by the improvement of the grounds now 
nearly reclaimed, by dredging and filling, from the malarial 
flats of the river. This land adjoins the Mall on the west and 
extends southward to a point opposite the Arsenal grounds 

One of the most beautiful features of the city is the great 
number of small parks, most of them situated at points of inter- 
section of several avenues, while in other cases one or more 
squares are thus occupied. Perhaps the most beautiful of these 



17 

small parks is I^afayette Square, situated in front of the White 
House, between Pennsylvania avenue and H street, and sur- 
rounded by houses with w^hich mau}^ events of historic interest 
are connected. It contains a great variety- of beautiful trees, man\^ 
of them exotics. In the center of this park is an equestrian statue 
of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. At 
the southeastern corner of the park is the monument recently 
erected to the memory of Lafayette and his compatriots. Count 
de Rochambeau and Chevalier Duportaie, of the French Army, 
and Counts D'Estaing and De Grasse, of the French Nav}^, who 
served as allies in the closing years of the Revolutionary War. 
The statue which was ordered by Congress, at a cost of $50,000, 
was designed by the French artists, Falquiere and Mercie. At 
the southwestern corner of the park a monument to de Rocham- 
beau will be unveiled on the 24th instant. 

On Vermont avenue are three pretty parks. McPherson 
Square, situated between I and K streets, contains an equestrian 
statue to Gen. J. B. McPherson, erected by the Societ}' of the 
Army of the Tennessee. Two blocks further up Vermont 
avenue, at the intersection of Massachusetts avenue, is Thomas 
Circle, in the center of which is a statue of Gen. Geo. H. 
Thomas, erected by the Society of the Army of tlie Cumberland. 
Two blocks still further out Vermont avenue is Iowa Circle, 
occupied by a statue of Gen. John A. Logan. 

On Connecticut avenue, which leads off in a northwesterly 
direction from Lafa3^ette Square, is Farragut Square, between 
I and K streets. In this is a statue of Admiral David (L 
Farragut. Four blocks up the avenue is Dupont Circle, in the 
center of which is a statue of Rear Admiral Samuel F. Dupont. 

In Scott Circle, at the intersection of Sixteenth street and 
Massachusetts avenue, stand an equestrian statue of Ccu. W'ui- 
field Scott, and statues of Daniel Webster and Dr. Hahnemann. 

On East Capitol street, in the eastern section of the cit>-, is 
Lincoln Park, in which is a statue representing the emancipa- 
tion of the slave. lUsewhere are statues of Generals Greene 



18 

and Rawlings, equestrian statues of Generals Washington and 
Hancock, and statues of Benjamin Franklin, Gen. Albert Pike, 
and others. 

Besides the parks above mentioned, the visitor will find many 
others, at short intervals, on nearly all the principal avenues of 
the city. The grounds about the Naval Observatory, Washington 
Barracks, Soldiers' Home, and Congressional Cemeter}^ are also 
improved as parks. 

The Botanical Gardens are situated on Penns3'lvania avenue, 
between First and Third streets. They cover ten acres of 
ground, and are beautifully laid out with trees, shrubs, and 
flowers. They form a part of the Mall, although enclosed b}' 
an iron railing. In them is a beautiful fountain b}' Bartholdi. 
Admission may be had between 9 A. ^I. and 6 P. M. every day 
except Sunday. The grounds and green-houses are well worth 
a visit. 

Plans have recently been adopted for the future development 
of the park system by a Commission consisting of Messrs. 
Burnham, McKim, Olmstead, and St. Gaudens. These pro- 
vide for a magnificent system of public parks and grounds, to 
be adorned by classic public buildings, statues, and memorials, 
and entirely surrounding the city. 

THE CAPITOL. 

The building is open daily, except Sundays and holidays, 
from 9 to 4.30, or until one-half hour after adjournment.. 
During a term of Congress the forenoon is the best time for 
inspecting the legislative halls and the various committee 
rooms. Congress goes into session at 12 o'clock noon. 

The Capitol as it now stands is the result of several additions 
to and changes of the original building. The central part, 
exclusive of the dome, represents the original design by Mr. 
Stephen Hallet. The two wings of this part, erected in 
1 793-181 1, were destroyed by the British in 1814, but were 
soon rebuilt with the connecting portion and a wooden dome, 



19 



The extensions on the north and south, containing the present 
legislative chambers, were added in 1 851-1867, after the plans 
of Mr. Thomas U. Walter, and the great iron dome, b}' the same 
architect, was completed in 1863. 

The length of the building is 751 feet, its greatest width 320 
feet, and the dome rises 307 feet above the foundation. 

In the different facades of the Capitol are 134 beautiful 
Corinthian columns, 100 of them monolithic. The material 
of the new wings is white marble; that of the older part, 
sandstone. 




CAPITOL, EAST FRONT 



At the eastern front of the building, Hanked l)y a double rt)w 
of columns, is a portico 160 feet long, upon which most of the 
Presidents have been inaugurated. 

The Capitol contains the legislative chambers of the vSenate 
and of the House of Re])resentati\'es and the ruited States 
Supreme Court room. 



20 

The rotunda of the Capitol is 96 feet in diameter at its base, 
and 185 feet high, to a canop}^ 65 feet in diameter. In the 
rotunda are eight large paintings b}^ x-\merican artists, four of 
them commemorating events in the discover}^ and settlement of 
the country, and four representing scenes in the Revolutionary 
AVar. The frieze, 10 feet in height, is likewise historical in 
character. In the canopy is an allegorical fresco, the apotheosis 
of Washington, b}^ Brumidi, who also began the frieze. 

From the rotunda one can ascend to the dome and to the 
cupola above, from which a beautiful view of the cit}^ may be 
obtained. The dome is crowned b}^ a bronze statue of the 
Goddess of Freedom, by Crawford, an American sculptor. The 
dome is 135 feet 5 inches in diameter at its base. 

At the entrance to the rotunda from the eastern portico is a 
bronze door representing in its relief figures the history of 
Columbus and his discoveries. There are also heads of many 
sovereigns and discoverers whose names are associated with the 
discovery of America, and of historians who have written upon 
the subject. The door was designed by Randolph Rogers in 
1858. Another fine bronze door is at the eastern entrance to 
the Senate wing. This was designed by Crawford and was cast 
at Chicopee, Massachusetts. 

The assembly halls of the Senate and of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, and the rooms connected with them, are ornamented 
with many frescoes, paintings, and artistic decorations. Atten- 
tion is especially called to two large paintings by Thomas 
Moran, situated in the vestibule to the ladies' gallery of the 
Senate chamber. One of these represents the "Grand Canyon 
of the Yellowstone," and the other the ''Grand Canyon of the 
Colorado." Both are well worthy of study. Among the mis- 
cellaneous paintings which adorn the halls and galleries are 
"Westward Ho," by Leutze, and the "Signing of the Declara- 
tion of Independence." 

Between the rotunda and the House wing of the building is 
the National Hall of Statuary. To this collection each State of 



21 



the Union has been invited to contribute two statues of promi- 
nent citizens. Many of them have already done so. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, 

The Executive Mansion, or White House, is situated in a park 
between the Treasury and the State, War, and Navy buildings. 
It was erected in 1 792-1 799, after the designs of Mr. James 
Hoban, and is said to be similar to the palace of the Duke of 
Ueinster in Dublin. Its popular name is vSaid to have its origin 
in the fact that for a long time after its completion it was the 
only white building in the city. 




WHITE HOUSE, NORTH FRONT. 



The East Room, the largest of the reception rooms, is open 
week days to visitors from 10 A. M. to 2 P. ]\I. Concerts b\- the 
Marine Band are given at 6 o'clock every vSaturda\- afternoon 
during the summer in the grounds south of the White House. 



n 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS* 
Herbert T. Putnam, Librarian. 

Open to visitors daily, except Sundays, from 9 A. M. to 
10 P. M. 

The Library of Congress was established in 1800, destroyed 
in 1 8 14 by the burning of the Capitol, afterwards replenished 
by the purchase by Congress of the library of ex-President 
Jefferson, 6,760 volumes (cost, S23. 950); in 1851, 35,000 volumes 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



destroyed by fire; in 1852, partially replenished by an appro- 
priation of ^75,000; increased (i ) by regular appropriations b^^ 
Congress; (2) by deposits under the copyright law; (3) by 
gifts and exchanges; (4) by the exchanges of the Smithsonian 
Institution, the library of which (40,000 volumes) was, in 1866, 
deposited in the Library of Congress with the stipulation that 
future accessions should follow it. Sixty sets of Government 



23 

publications are at the disposal of the lyibrariati of Congress for 
exchange, through the Smithsonian, with foreign governments, 
and this number may be increased . up to loo. Other special 
accessions have been: The Peter Force collection (22,529 
volumes, 37,000 pamphlets) purchased, 1867, cost, $100,000; 
the (Count) Rochambeau collection (manuscript) purchased, 
1883, cost, $20,000; the Toner collection (24,484 volumes, 
numerous pamphlets) gift in 1882 of Dr. Joseph M. Toner; 
the Hubbard collection (engravings) gift in 1898 of Mrs. 
Gardiner G. Hubbard. 

The collection in the main library is now the largest single 
collection on the Western Hemisphere. It comprised at the end 
of the fiscal year (June 30, 1901) about 1,000,000 printed books 
and pamphlets (including the law librar^^ of 92,300 volumes, 
which, while a division of the Librar}^ of Congress, still remains 
at the Capitol), 36,600 manuscripts, 60,000 maps and charts, 
311,000 pieces of music, and upward of 106,300 photographs, 
prints, engravings, and lithographs. Of the printed books 
probably one-third are duplicates. 

The main collection is rich in Federal documents, history, 
political science, jurisprudence, and Americana in general, 
including important files of American newspapers and original 
manuscripts (colonial, revolutionary, and formative periods'). 
The exhibition cases on the second floor contain many rare 
books, including the records of the Virginia Company. 

The Smithsonian deposit is strong in scientific works, and 
includes the largest assemblage of the transactions of learned 
societies which exists in this country. 

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT, 

Open from 9.30 to 5.30. A stairway of 900 steps leads to the 
top, and an elevator, carrying visitors without charge, ascends 
half-hourly from 9.30 to 4.30. 

The Washington Monument stands on the bank of the 
Potomac River, south of the White House, verv near the spot 



24 

designated by :\Iajor L'Enfant in the original plan of the city 
for an equestrian statue to the memory of Washington. It is 
also very near the center of the original District of Columbia. 

The designer of the Monument was Robert Mills, of South 
Carolina. Its erection was begun in 1847, but was interrupted 




WASHINGTON MONUMENT- 



in 1855, when it had reached a height of 152 feet, through 
failure of funds, which had thus far been contributed by 
private individuals. Work was resumed in 1878, under appro- 
priations made by Congress. The capstone was put in place 
December 6, 1884, and the dedication took place on February 
21, 1885, with imposing Masonic ceremonies. Robert C. Win- 



25 

throp, of Massachusetts, was the orator both at the laying of 
the cornerstone and at the dedication. The total cost of the 
Monument has been $1,200,000, of which $300,000 was raised 
by contributions from the people. 

The shaft is of Vermont marble. Its original foundation was 
80 feet square at the base, 55 feet square at the top, and 25 feet 
high, 17 feet above the surface. When work was resumed in 1878 
it was found desirable to enlarge the foundation, and a mass of 
concrete 126)^ feet square and 13}^ feet in thickness was placed 
under the original foundation, a noteworthy feat ot engineering. 
The engineer in charge of the work from 1878 to the completion 
of the Monument was Col. (now General) Thomas L. Casey, and 
the superintendent of construction was Mr. Bernard R. Green. 

The Monument is 555 feet in height, 55 feet square at the 
base, and 31^^ feet square at the base of the summit pyramid, 
which is 55 feet high. The apex of the pyramid is a solid block 
of aluminum 9 inches high, 4^ inches square at the base, and 
weighing 6^ pounds. The total weight of the Monument is 
80,000 tons. At the time of its completion this shaft was the 
highest building in the world. It is now surpassed only by the 
Eiffel Tower in Paris. 

By means of an elevator one can ascend to a landing at the 
base of the summit pyramid, and through port-holes obtain 
magnificent views of the city and surrounding country. By 
walking down the iron staircase one can see the numerous 
memorial tablets set in the walls, contributed by various 
nations, states, cities, societies, corporations, and individuals. 

THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART. 

Open daily from 9 to 4. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, vSaturdays, 
Sundays, and holidays admission is free. On other days a fee 
of 25 cents is charged. 

Situated on New York avenue, corner of Se\enlccnlh street, 
southwest of the State, War, and Navy Buildini;. This Gal- 
lery was founded and endowed in i86c) by \\\ \\\ Corcoran 



26 



a citizen of Washington. The present building of Georgia 
marble was erected in 1899. The two bronze lions at the 
main entrance are copies of Contora's at the tomb of Pope 




CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART. 



Clement XIII. It has one of the best collections of paintings 
in this country and is constantly being enriched by purchase. 
Connected with the Gallery is a school of art. 



Cbe Departments ana Scientific Institutions- 



BUILDING OF THE STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS. 

This massive structure stands on the south side of Pennsyl- 
vania avenue, just west of the White House. It is built in 
Italian Renaissance style, and was begun in 1871 and com- 
pleted in 1887, from designs by Mr. A. B. Mullet, late Super- 



27 



vising Architect of the Treasury. The stone is granite, from 
Maine and Virginia. The State Department occupies the 
southern portion of the building, the War Department the 
northern and western, and the Navy Department the eastern 




STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

wing. Many of the rooms are richly frescoed and decorated, 
and contain numerous portraits, historical relics,* and other 
objects of interest. At the several entrances are ancient cannon 
captured in foreign wars. 

STATE DEPARTMENT. 

Honorable John Hay, Secretary of State. 

The Department is open from 9 A. M. to 2 P. M. (hi llio 
third floor is an excellent library for the use of the Department. 
The original Declaration of Independence is exhibited in the 
library with other historical documents, many of them relating 
to the earlv davs of the country. 



28 

WAR DEPARTMENT* 
Hon. Elihu Root^ Secretary of "War. 

Many of the rooms and corridors are adorned with portraits 
of distinguished generals, most of which may be seen by apply- 
ing to the messenger at the Secretary's door. The corridors 
also contain models and figures depicting the uniforms and 
modes of transportation used at different periods in the history 
of the Army. 

Headquarters of the Army, Lieutenant General Nelson A. 
Miles, Commanding. The office is located in the north wing, 
at the east end of the corridor. 

CORPS OF ENGINEERS. 
Brigadier General G. L. Gillespie^ Chief of Engineers. 

The Corps of Engineers is charged with all duties relating 
to fortifications and their design and construction, wdth torpe- 
does for coast defenses, with all militar}^ bridges, and such 
services as may be required for these objects. It is also charged 
with the river and harbor improvements. It has, consequently, 
to conduct a vast amount of pureh^ civil engineering work, 
including the water supply, sewerage, etc., of the city of 
Washington. 

ENGINEER SCHOOL OF APPLICATION. 

Major W. M. Blacky U. S. A.^ Commanding. 

This school is located in the old Arsenal grounds, now known 
as Washington Barracks, at the foot of Four-and-a-half street, 
fronting on the Potoma River. All young officers of the Corps 
of Engineers receive here a course of instruction, senior officers 
acting as instructors. There is stationed here a battalion of 
engineers, four companies strong. 



29 

ORDNANCE BUREAU* 
Brigadier General William Crozier, Chief of Ordnance. 

The Bureau of Ordance has charge of all the national armories, 
gun factories, arsenals, and ordnance depots, and is expending 
large sums of money in the manufacture of modern guns. 

NAVY DEPARTMENT. 
Honorable William H. Moody, Secretary of the Navy* 

The chiefs of the Bureaus of the Navy Department are officers 
of the United States Navy and part of the Naval establishment. 
Upon the walls of the Secretary's office are hung some excellent 
portraits of former Secretaries ; in the corridors are to be seen 
vSome fine models of new ships of war. The Library is on the 
fourth floor. 

Office of the Admiral, George Dewey, Admiral. Office is at 
1747 Rhode Island avenue northwest. 

NAVAL OBSERVATORY. 
Captain Cfiarles H. Davis^ U. S. N., Superintendent. 

The Observatory is situated on Georgetown Heights, west of 
Rock Creek and northeast of Georgetown. Reached by electric 
cars to Georgetown with transfer, thence to Observatory gate. 
Open to visitors from 9 A. M. to 3 P. M. 

The Observatory was established in 1S42, its o])ject being to 
promote the ends of navigation. It is equipi^ed with a jd-inch 
equatorial mural circle and transit and a prime transit for 
declinations, and many other notable instruments. Astronom- 
ical observations are nuide in order to estal)lisli and correct the 
data used by the navigator, and all the instruments connected 
with navigation are tested in this office. 



30 

NAUTICAL ALMANAC. 
ProL Walter S. Harshman^ U. S- N., Director. 

The Nautical Almanac Office is at the L". S. Xaval Observator3\ 
The annual publications are of use to navigators, geodesists, 
and surveyors who have to determine astronomic positions. 
They include The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, 
The American Nautical Almanac, The Atlantic Coasters Nau- 
tical Almanac, and the Pacific Coasters Nautical i\lmanac. 

HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE. 
Lieutenant Commander "W* H, H* Southerland^ U. S. N*^ Hydrographcr. 

A branch of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department. 
Offices in the Department building, basement, east front. 

Work consists essentially in supph^ing vessels of war and 
the merchant-marine charts, sailing directions, light lists, pub- 
lications relating to marine meteorology, and other information. 
The object of the office is to secure the earliest possible reliable 
information from all sources and to put it prompth^ before those 
especially interested in navigation. 

Branch offices are established in nine of the principal ports of 
the L^nited States ; each of these is in the charge of a naval 
officer, with one or more assistants. In this wa}^ information is 
readily collected and prompth' circulated. The office is divided 
into the divisions of Chart Construction, Issue, and Supply, 
Sailing Directions, Marine ^leteorolog}', and the Mailing 
Division, the functions of which are clearly indicated b}' their 
names. 

BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS. 

Rear Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott^ U. S. N., Civil Engineer. 

This bureau, the office of which is on the first floor, east 
wing, of the Navy Department building, has charge of all civil 
engineering work for the Navy. This includes the design and 
construction of naval stations, coaling stations, dry docks, etc. 



31 

BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR. 
Rear Admiral Francis T. Bowles^ Chief Constructor. 

The duties of the Bureau of Construction and Repair com- 
prise all that relates to designing, building, fitting, and repairing 
the hulls of vessels, spars, boats, capstans, etc. ; also the turrets, 
and armor plating, after the material, quality, and distribution 
of thickness have been determined b}^ the Bureau of Ordnance ; 
it also has control of all vessels building and under repair. 

BUREAU OF STEAM ENGINEERING. 

Rear Admiral George W* Melville^ U. S. N.^ Engineer-in-Chief. 

Offices in the Navy Department building. This bureau has 
charge of the design, inspection during construction, and installa- 
tion of all engines, boilers, etc., on naval vessels. Also of allied 
mechanical engineering work for the Nav3\ 

BUREAU OF ORDNANCE. 
Rear Admiral Charlt'.s O^Neill^ Chief of Bureau. 

Office in Navy Department building, third floor, east wing. 
This bureau has general charge of the designing of guns, 
ammunition, gun mounts, and armor for ships, and general 
supervision of the work of the Naval Gun Factory and of the 
proving grounds at Indian Head. 

NAVAL GUN FACTORY. 
Rear Admiral Silas ^v'". Terry^ U. S. N.^ Commandant. 

Open to visitors from 9 A. M. until sundown. 

Situated on the old Navy Yard grounds, on the Anacostia 
River, southeast of the Capitol, at the foot oi lughtli street 
southeast. It is reached by the green Pennsylvania avenue 
cars; time from Lafayette Square to the Navy Yard about 
twenty minutes. It was formerl\- a ship->ard, and many famous 



32 



vessels were built there. It is now entirely devoted to the 
construction of modern ordnance, and its various shops are 
amply equipped with the best modern machinery for the manu- 
facture of large guns, their mounts, and ammunition. There 
is a museum of interesting articles in the Yard. 

In this Yard, under the Bureau of Construction and Repair, 
is an experimental model tank at which all ship models are 
tested. This is now in charge of Xaval Constructor D. W. 
Taylor. 

TREASURY DEPARTMENT* 



Honorable Leslie M» Shaw^ Secretary, 

Open to visitors from 9 A. M. to 2 P. M. 
with visitors to all places open to the public. 



A guide is sent 




TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 



The Treasury Department building stands on Fifteenth street, 
east of the White House. It is of Grecian-Ionic style of 
architecture, and, like the Capitol, the result of extensions of the 



33 

original plan. Mr. Thomas U. Walter was in both cases the 
architect of the extensions, and produced a very harmonious 
effect. The old part of the building fronts on Fifteenth street, 
while the extensions form the northern, western, and southern 
fronts. The original portion of the building is of Virginia 
sandstone, while the stone employed in the extensions is granite 
from Dix Island, Maine, 

Any one visiting the Treasury should not fail to examine the 
columns of the new portions, as they are monoliths, 31 feet high 
and nearly 4 feet in diameter. The main objects of interest 
are the United States Treasur}' or Cash Room, the Vaults, and 
the Secret Service Bureau. The Cash Room is ornamented 
with beautiful marbles from various places. 

UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 
O. H. Tittman^ Superintendent. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey is a bureau under the Treasury 
Department. Its work, begun in 181 7, was almost immediately 
stopped by legislation, but was resumed in 1832, under the 
direction of Hassler, its first superintendent. He was suc- 
ceeded by Bache, under whom the Survey reached a fuller 
development on the plans proposed by his predecessor. 

Its objects are primarily to make surveys of the coast and 
the adjacent waters, and to colocate these surveys by extended 
trigonometric operations along the coasts and across the interior. 
This is of the highest order of geodetic precision and is utilized 
in discussions of the figure of the earth. It is also charged by 
law with the duty of furnishing trigonometric points to the 
several States. 

The extent of the surveyed shore line is: Atlantic coast, 
36,561; Gulf coast, 19,143; Pacific coast, S900 ; Alaska, 26.376. 

In addition to its mensurational work, which is of the highest 
degree of precision, the Survey conducts iKMululuni observations. 



34 

tidal researches, and a general magnetic surve}^ of the whole 
territory of the United States. The publications of the Survey 
are: 

Annual Reports, showing progress and containing professional 
papers. 

Charts on various scales, covering the coast line, for the use 
of navigators. 

Coast Pilot, a series of volumes giving minute descriptions 
of the coast, with sailing directions. 

Tide Tables, giving the predicted tides at the chief ports of 
the United States. 

Professional and Scientific Papers, published separatel}' from 
the annual reports, but also contained in them. 

Bulletins, giving earh' results of work accomplished. 

Notices to Mariners, giving new data in regard to published 
charts. 

The Charts, Tide Tables, and Coast Pilot can be purchased at 
the Coast and Geodetic Survey- Office, or at agencies existing in 
the principal seaport towns, at about the cost of paper and print- 
ing. The other publications are for gratuitous distribution. 

The office is located on New Jerse}^ avenue, near B street 
southeast, just south of the Capitol. 

SUPERVISING ARCHITECT'S OFFICE^ 
Jamss K. Taylor^ Supervising Architect, 

Office in the Treasury Department. The duties of the Super- 
vising Architect are of a technical character and are complex and 
varied. They embrace matters pertaining to the selection of 
sites for public buildings, securing necessary State cession of 
jurisdiction, the preparation of estimates, drawings, etc., pre- 
liminary to the erection of court-houses, custom-houses, post- 
offices, marine hospitals, etc, 



35 

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS. 
S» 'W* Stratton^ Superintendent* 

Office in process of construction near Naval Observatory, in 
suburbs to north of Washington. 

By an Act of Congress approved March 3, 1901, the office of 
Standard Weights and Measures of the Treasur}' Department, 
on July I, 1 901, was superseded by the National Bureau of 
Standards, the function of which is as follows : The custod}' 
of the standards, the comparison of the standards used in 
scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, 
and educational institutions with the standards adopted or 
recognized by the Government ; the construction, when neces- 
sary, of standards, their multiples and subdivisions ; the testing 
and calibration of standard measuring apparatus ; the solution 
of problems which arise in connection with standards ; the 
determination of physical constants and properties of materials, 
when such data are of great importance to scientific or manu- 
facturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient 
accuracy elsewhere. 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 
Honorable E. A. Hitchcock, Secretary. 

This Department building occupies the block bounded l>y 
F and G and Seventh and Ninth streets northwest, with the main 
entrance on F street. It is a mavSsive white structure of impos- 
ing appearance; the center is built of sandstone and the wings 
of white marble, resting upon a basement of granite, ruder 
this Department are gathered a large number of l)ureaus, the 
Patent Office, Pension Office, (k^ieral I.and Office, Office of 
Indian Affairs, Bureau of lulucation, Commissioner of Kail- 
roads, Geological Survey, and Census. In the old Post-Office 
Department building, south of the main building, are some of 
these bureaus. Others are scattered about the cit>'. 



36 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 

Dr, Chas. D, 'Walcott, Director, 

The Geological Surve}^ is a bureau of the Department of the 
Interior, and its office is at 1330 F street. It was established b}^ 
Act of Congress, March 3, 1879, ^^^ objects as provided for in 
the act being the ''classification of public lands and examination 
of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of 
the national domain." 

On account of the extent and diversit}' of its operations, the 
work of this bureau is at present carried on b}^ a number of 
co-ordinate divisions, embracing nearly every department of 
geology and paleontology, with which are associated laboratories 
for the investigation of chemical and phA'sical problems directl}^ 
related to geolog3\ The preparation of a topographical map, 
to serve as a basis upon which the geological features of the 
countr}' are finall}^ to be laid down, is carried on in the Division 
of Topograph}^, with which is connected a large force of topo- 
graphical engineers. This division has already mapped 878,109 
square miles and has published the same on scales of one or 
two miles to one inch, in 1135 separate atlas sheets. There is a 
Division of Mining Statistics and Technolog}^ engaged in pre- 
paring annual reports, showing for each calendar 3'ear the 
mineral products of the country. The Division of Hydrography 
is engaged in measuring the discharge of streams throughout 
the United States ; in estimating the amount and quality of the 
water available for power, irrigation, or domestic supply; and 
in preparing engineering plans and estimates for the construc- 
tion of reservoirs and canals for irrigation. The Division of 
Forestry is charged with the classification of the public lands 
as cultivatable or timbered, and in surve^^ng and segregating 
the latter for forest reserves. The Geological Survey Library 
contains nearly 48,000 volumes, 77,000 pamphlets, and over 
29,000 maps. It is one of the most complete in existence on 
subjects relating to geology, geography, and irrigation. The 
publications of the Surve}' are : 



37 

Annuai, Reports. — Presenting a summary of the plans and 
operations of the Survey, accompanied by short administra- 
tive reports from chiefs of divisions, followed by a number of 
scientific papers of general interest. 

Monographs. — Quarto volumes, containing the more impor- 
tant and elaborate vScientific publications of the Survey. 

BuivivKTiNS. — Each of these contains but one paper and is com- 
plete in itself. They are octavo volumes and, for the most part, 
are short articles giving the more important results of an inves- 
tigation. They include many papers of engineering value, on 
the boundaries of States, the results of leveling and trigonometric 
operations, and upon the results of h^^drographic operations 
with tables of stream discharge, plans for irrigation works, and 
reports on existing irrigation and hydraulic works. 

Annual Reports upon the mineral resources of the United 
States. 

U S* PATENT OFFICE. 

Honorable F. L Allen^ Commissioner 

The Patent Office was organized in its present form in 1836. 
It occupies portions of the main Interior Department building 
on F street. As an object of interest to visitors its principal 
feature is the Model Room in the top story, where models of all 
patented inventions capable of being thus represented are 
arranged in cases, classified by subjects. The organization 
includes an Examining Corps watli thirty-two divisions, the 
Issue and Gazette, Drafting, Assignment or Copying Divisions, 
and the Scientific Library. This library may be of especial 
interest to scientific men. It aims to embody, so far as condi- 
tions admit, the whole literature of human industry, according 
to its main purpose of assistance to the examiners in their 
researches. It is a repository of applied rather than of pure 
science. It contains about 50,000 volumes, including pamphlets, 
and is much used by the patent ])rofession and by ])raiiches 
of the Government doing scientific work. 



38 

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, 
Honorable Binger Hermann, Commissioner. 

Offices in the building between Seventh and Eighth and 
E and F streets. 

The Commissioner of the General Land Office is charged with 
the survey, management, and rule of the public domain, and the 
issuing of titles therefor. 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE* 
Honorable James Wilson, Secretary* 

The Secretary of Agriculture is charged with the supervision 
of all public business relating to the agricultural industry of the 
country. He exercises advisory supervison over the agri- 
cultural experiment stations deriving support from the National 
Treasury, and has control of the quarantine stations for im- 
ported and domestic cattle. 

The Assistant Secretar}' has general control and direction of 
a large number of scientific bureaus in charge of specialists, 
whose duties ma}' be concisely expressed b}' their titles, viz., 
the Bureaus of Forestry', Weather, Chemistry, Soils, Animal 
Industry, Plant Industry, and the Office of Public Road Inquiries • 
also the Office of Experiment Stations, under which is a Division 
of Irrigation Investigation. 

POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 
Honorable Henry C. Payne^ Postmaster General* 

This department occupies a modern structure on the south side 
of Pennsylvania avenue between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. 
The ground floor is occupied by the Washington City post-office. 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. 

Honorable Philander C. Knox, Attorney General. 

This department is situated temporarily in rented quarters on 
K street near Fifteenth and in the old Corcoran Gallery of Art, 



39 

corner of Pennsylvania avenue and Seventeenth street, pending 
the erection of a new department building. The Court of Claims 
occupies the first floor of the building. 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
Frank W. Palmer^ Public Printer. 

Open from 8 A. M. to 4.30 P. M. 

This building occupies about one-third of the block between 
North Capitol, P'irst street west, H, and G streets. All printing 
and binding ordered by the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial 
Departments of the Government is done in this building. It is 
the largest establishment of the kind in the world. 

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 

Dr. S. P. Langley^ Secretary. 

Open to visitors from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M. 

The Smithsonian Institution is supported by a permanent 
fund, at present amounting to $703,000, the accumulations of a 
bequest to the United States, made in 1826 by James Smithson, 
a scientist of England, ''to found at Washington, under the 
name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the 
increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." Some years 
were occupied in securing the bequest and in perfecting plans 
for carrying out its provisions. By Act of Congress, August 10^ 
1846, the Institution was created as an " Establishment," of which 
the President and the other principal officers of the General 
Government were made ex-officio members. 

The Smithsonian building is situated in that division of the 
Mall, between Seventh and Twelfth streets, known as Smithsonian 
Park. It was built, 1847- 1856, at a cost of $450,000, after clcsii;ns 
by Renwick. The style is termed Norman, and the material is 
a lilac-gray freestone, found in the red sandshMie formation 
about twenty-three miles al)ove Washington. 

The Smithsonian Institution is charged b>- Congress with the 
expenditure of the sums annuall>- appr()])riatecl for the Bureau 



40 

of International Exchanges, the Bureau of Ethnology, the 
National Museum, and the National Zoological Park. 

Publications. — The Smithsonian Institution has three classes 
of publications : 

First. " Contributions to Knowledge," a quarto series, in which 
are included memoirs giving new facts obtained in original 
research. 

Second. "Miscellaneous Collections," an octavo series, con- 
taining practical papers or treatises, such as systematic lists of 
species in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, tables 
of natural constants, scientific bibliographies, and other sum- 
maries. 

Third. ''Annual Reports," an octavo series, containing the 
3'early report of the Secretary to Congress of the work done, 
and supplemented by short papers upon the most important 
scientific discoveries of the year, by bibliographies of current 
literature, and by accounts of progress in various sciences. 

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM* 

Richard Rathbun^ Assistant Secretary* 

The Museum building is of brick and is situated in the Mall 
immediately east of the Smithsonian building. It is open to 
visitors from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M. 

The National Museum is maintained by annual Congressional 
appropriations, which are expended under the direction of the 
Smithsonian Institution, and the Assistant Secretary of the 
latter is in charge of the Museum. The Museum originated in 
1840, when the National Institution was organized, and the col- 
lection of the Wilkes expedition constituted its nucleus. In 
1849 a museum was established by the Smithsonian Institution, 
and this, in 1858, was made the repository of all the scientific 
collections of the Government, including those of the National 
Institution. 



41 

THE COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES* 

George M* Bowers, Commissioner* 

Aquarium open to visitors from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M. 

The Commission was established primarily with the object of 
determining the cause of decrease among food-fishes, and of sug- 
gesting measures for the improvement of the fishing grounds. 
Its scope, however, has been rapidly enlarged to cover all mat- 
ters pertaining to fisheries which come within the jurisdiction 
of the General Government, including the propagation of useful 
fishes and the methods and statistics of the fishing business. 

The offices of the Commission are located in Armory Square, 
B street southwest, between Sixth and Seventh streets. The 
same building contains a biological laboratory, extensive aquaria 
for the study and display of salt and fresh-water fishes, and also 
one of the principal shad-hatching stations, for w^hich the supply 
of eggs is obtained from the important fisheries of the Potomac 
River during the spring. Large ponds for the breeding of Ger- 
man carp, tench, golden ide, etc., are situated on the Mall near 
the Washington Monument. 

THE BOARD OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES- 

Henry Gannett^ Chairman- 

That uniform usage in regard to geographic nomenclature 
and orthography shall obtain throughout the Executive Depart- 
ments of the Government, and particularly upon maps and 
charts issued by the various Departments and Hurcaus, this 
Board is coUvStituted. To it shall be referred all unsettled ques- 
tions concerning geographic names which arise in the Depart- 
ments, and the decisions of the Board are to be accepted l)y the 
Departments as the standard authority in such matters. This 
Board is appointed by and reports directly to the President. 



42 

WASHINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, 
"Weston Flint, Librarian, 

The Library building, which will be completed and ready for 
occupancy within a few months, is situated in Mount Vernon 
Square, at the junction of Seventh street, Massachusetts and 
Xew York avenues. It is the result of a gift to the city by 
Andrew Carnegie of the sum of $350,000 for construction. The 
building is of white marble, unusually pleasing in external de- 
sign, and is the work of Ackerman & Ross, architects. The 
superintendent of construction is Mr. Bernard R. Green, Mem. 
Am. Soc. C. E. 

At present the Library, housed in temporar^^ quarters, includes 
about 32,000 books, which number will be doubled shortly as 
the result of purchase through an appropriation by Congress 
of $40,000. The capacity of the building is about 100,000 
volumes. 

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

Thk Carnkgie Institution, founded only in 1902 by a gift 
of $10,000,000 from Andrew Carnegie. Its plan and scope have 
not yet been matured, and it occupies temporary quarters on K 
street near Fourteenth. The President is Daniel C. Oilman, late 
President of Johns-Hopkins LTniversity, at Baltimore, and its 
Secretary is Chas. D. Walcott, Director of the U. S. Geological 
Survey. 

Gkorgktown University is the oldest educational institu- 
tion of the Catholic Church in America. Founded in 1789; 
incorporated as a university in 1815; has collegiate, law, and 
medical departments. 

The Columbian University was incorporated by Act of 
Congress February 9, 1821, as a college and re-incorporated as 
a university in 1873. It has collegiate, law, and medical depart- 
ments. Its main building is that within which the meetings of 
the Congress of Geologists are held, corner of H and Fifteenth 
streets northwest. 



43 

Howard University is devoted to the higher education of 
the colored race. It was founded in 1867, and is supported by 
the Government. It has a collegiate department and schools of 
theology, law, and medicine. The average attendance is 300. 

Catholic University of America, founded in 1889. 
Situated at Brookland, a suburb of the city, east of the Sol- 
diers' Home; is reached by the Metropolitan Branch of the 
Baltimore and Ohio railroad and the electric cars. The divinity 
school is the only department at present organized. 

Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and 
National Deaf Mute College. This institution has two 
departments, a primary and a collegiate ; the former established 
in 1857, the latter in 1864. It is supported b}' Congressional 
appropriations. The development of the institution has been 
from the first under the guidance of Dr. E. M. Gallaudet, now 
President of the Faculty. This college is the onl}' one in the 
world for deaf mutes. It is situated just beyond the north- 
eastern boundary of the city, in the park called Kendall Green^ 
a portion of the estate of Amos Kendall, the original promoter 
of the vSchool and its first president. 

The American University is situated about one and a half 
miles north of Georgetown and about one-half a mile west of 
Tennallytown road. It is planned that there shall ultimately 
be erected one building, the gift of contributions from each of 
the States of the Union. At present the College of History, a 
handsome marble building of classic Greek architecture, is com- 
pleted, and the construction of the McKinley Memorial, which 
is the Ohio College of Government, is well under way. The 
Chancellor of the University, which is planned for post-graduate 
study only, is Bishop John F. Hurst, of the Methodist Church. 



Addresses on engineering Works. 



OUTLINE OF FORM OF GOVERNMENT OF DISTRICT 
OF COLUMBIA. 

By CoL W^ M» Black, U. S. A., Mem» Am, Soc, C, £♦, Engineer Commissioner 
District of Columbia, 1897-^98. 

The present form of government of the District of Columbia 
was established by the Act of Congress approved June ii, 1878, 
and has been but little changed b}^ subsequent legislation. The 
execution and to a minor extent the legislative functions are 
placed in the hands of three Commissioners, two of whom are 
civilians and the third an officer of the Corps of Engineers of 
the Army. 

The Civil Commissioners are appointed by the President for a 
term of three years and confirmed by the Senate. At the time 
of their appointment they must be citizens of the United States 
and for the three years preceding must have been actual resi- 
dents of the District of Columbia. 

Ordinarily they are selected one from each of the two principal 
political parties. 

The third Commissioner is detailed by the President from the 
officers of the Corps of Engineers of not less than the grade of 
captain and having at least fifteen years service. 

The Commissioners act as a Board, one, ordinarily the Civil 
Commissioner having the same political affiliations as the Presi- 
dent of the United States, being selected president. Any two 
of the Commissioners constitute a quorum for the transaction of 
business. The Engineer Commissioner is authorized to have not 
more than three assistants detailed from officers of the Corps of 
Engineers, the senior of whom acts as the Engineer Commissioner 
in case of the latter's disability or absence from the District. 



45 

The judicial S3\stem of the District is entirely distinct, the 
judges being appointed by the President of the United States. 

Under general laws enacted by Congress, the Commissioners 
are empowered to make regulations which correspond to the 
city ordinances (police, health, building, plumbing, and the 
like), and to provide for their enforcement. Congress also pro- 
vides specifically for the more important of the subordinate 
officials and in the annual appropriation bills rigorously regu- 
lates the number and salaries of the force of the permanent 
employees. 

The expenses of the District government are met by taxation 
regulated by law of Congress, with the express proviso that 
property of the United States shall not be taxed. Annual esti- 
mates in detail are submitted b}^ the Commissioners to the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury and by him transmitted to Congress, with 
such recommendations as he ma}^ deem to the public interest. 
To the extent to which Congress may approve the estimates, 
fifty per centum thereof is appropriated out of the Treasury of 
the United States and the remaining fifty per centum is paid 
from the amount raised by taxation. Such is the fundamental 
law, but for some years Congress has from time to time pro- 
vided that certain definite works should be paid for wholly 
from the revenues of the District. 

The powers of the three Commissioners are co-ordinate. For 
the more prompt transaction of business the various duties are 
divided by the Commissioners among themselves, as shown in 
general on the accompanying schedule. Minor alTairs arc heard 
and decided upon by the Commissioner charged with that par- 
ticular duty, the concurrence of a majority being required hn 
conclusive action. All important matters are acted upon by the 
Commissioners as a Board, and, l)efore action, citi/cns interested 
are invited to appear and present their views before the lU^ard 
in open session. 



46 

Duties of District Commissioners. 

Civil Commjssionkr. — ^Jurisdiction over chariiies and hospitals, educa- 
tional questions, public health and safety, other than police and 
municipal engineering, fire deparment, street lighting, use of 
electricity, markets, excise, weights and measures, harbormaster. 
Civil Commissioner. — Jurisdiction over taxes and assessments, law 
department, auditor's office, property department, street and alley 
cleaning, collection and disposal of garbage, police department. 
Engineer Commissioner. — Jurisdiction over the engineering work of 
the District under the supervision of two assistant engineer 
officers of the Army, with assistant engineers or superintendents 
as follows : 
AssisfaJit Engijieer Officer. — Streets, pavements, grades, and construc- 
tion of roads. — Computing Engineer. 

Sidewalks and alleys. — Superintendent of Streets. 
Maintenance of county roads. — Superintendent of Roads. 
Construction and care of bridges. — Engineer of Bridges. 
Surveyor's office. — Surveyor District of Columbia. 
Parking Commission. — Superintendent of Parking. 

Assistaiit Engineer Officer. — Water Distribution. — Superintendent of 
"Water Department. 

Water rates. — Water Registrar. 

Sewer construction and maintenance. — Superintendent of Sewers. 

Plumbing plans and inspection. — Inspector of Plumbing. 

Buildings and building inspection. — Inspector of Buildings. 

Repairs to buildings ; wharves ; inspection of asphalt and cement ; 
street extension plans ; superintendent of property ; permit department ; 
record department. 

To Engineers the operations of the Engineer Department 
must be of greatest interest, if for no other reason than 
because this Department is almost, if not quite, unique in munic- 
ipal government, in that its head is an Engineer, who forms 
one-third of the governing body of the municipalit}', and that its 
membership is in no way dependent upon any political party. 

The organization of the Department is shown in the schedule. 
The work is apparent in this District, and also in the series of 
annual reports, which, in so far as is known to the writer, are 
the only municipal engineer reports which for a long series of 



47 

years contain detailed information as to methods and costs. In 
themselves the}- form a ver}- fair treatise on municipal engi- 
neering. Annual reports are too frequently- practicalh- valueless 
from lack of this detailed information as to methods and costs, 
arising sometimes from lack of knowledge on the part of the 
Department itself, and sometimes from a desire to conceal 
unpleasant truths. 

The surest way of insuring efficienc}- and economy in 
municipal works is to have on record in detail the costs of each 
operation, to make these details public, and to have them com- 
pared with similar details of similar work elsewhere. 

This is only possible with an efficient organization. Such an 
organization is the Engineer Department of this District, both 
in its field and working parties and in its office force. Every 
cent and every unit of material is traced and charged to its par- 
ticular work, and this with a minimum of clerical labor. The 
methods b}" w^hich this is done cannot be detailed here for lack 
of time. An inspection of the books and forms in use will well 
repay the visitor. Only a few salient features can be mentioned. 

Supplies are bought under annual contracts, made after 
advertisement for proposals for each class. These supplies, after 
inspection, are issued onl}- on requisition signed by the proper 
official. 

Cement is furnished the various contractors ])y the District at 
a price slightly in advance of its retail market value and named 
in the contracts for work. 

Bulky materials, such as paving brick, sewer pipe, etc.. arc 
subject to a preliminary inspection at the place of nianutacture. 

Each official charged with any work is held strictl\ account- 
able for the results in product and costs, and holds his [)ositu>n 
only by his proved ability to render the best service to the Dis- 
trict. 

Some of the advances in municipal work which should be 
credited to this Department are : 



48 

The development of asphalt pavements to suit the climatic 
conditions of this countr}^, and the use with them of vitrified 
brick gutters with straight joint. 

An extended and careful series of long-time tests for asphalt 
and cements with reference to their municipal uses, including 
tests of gravel concrete. 

The use of vitrified half pipe for the wearing surface at the 
base of egg-shaped sewers. 

The development of an inexpensive concrete sidewalk for 
general city use. 

The use of expansion joints in brick street pavements. 

The development and use of a construction method for making 
concrete reservoirs which do not leak. 

The municipal care of street trees and the control of parkings, 
the latter being the unpaved improved portions of the street 
space between the building line and the sidewalk. 

In this connection the following brief description of construc- 
tion methods used b}^ Capt. Edward Burr in the Reno reservoir, 
which was -finished in 1.896, and in the Brightwood reservoir, 
finished in 1900, merits a place. 

The Tenleytown reservoir, an element of the high-service 
system of water supply, is located upon the highest point in the 
District, with the flow line 425 feet above mean low tide, and 
was built in i895-'96. The site is contracted, and, to obtain the 
largest capacity without excessive work or loss of elevation, the 
reservoir was designed with retaining walls instead of slopes. 
As all materials had to be teamed from tide level at a distance of 
five miles, it was desirable to reduce wall sections to the mini- 
mum necessary for stability and to take extra precautions against 
leakage. The masonry vras, therefore, made a rich Portland 
cement concrete in the proportion of 1-2-4, but before the work 
was completed it was developed that i-2}4-s would have been 
sufficiently compact, with the gravel used as a coarse material. 

The walls are 18.25 ^^^^ above foundations and 16 feet above 
the top of the concrete bottom of the reservoir. At the latter 



49 

level they are 6 feet thick and at the top 2.5 feet thick, with 
vertical backs. 

The basin is 330x128 feet. To provide for expansion and 
contraction of the concrete walls and to definitely locate cracks 
due these causes, the walls are built in sections about 40 feet 
long. No attempt was made to obtain a good bond between 
adjacent sections, as these joints were intended to be places of 
weakness, but a key-way 6 inches square was provided at each 
joint, half in each of the two sections and extending to the 
bottom of the wall. This key-way w^as subsequently filled with 
plastic material (asphalt) to make the joint water-tight. The 
walls were built with a 3-inch facing of one-half mortar on the 
exposed side and were given two coats of Portland cement wash, 
well worked in with brushes. No attempt was made to com- 
plete each wall section without suspending work, but when new 
work was placed upon old, the vSurface of the latter was carefully 
cleaned, moistened, and covered with a half inch of mortar upon 
which the new concrete was placed and the work continued. 
These precautions secured a basin that is practically absolutely 
water-tight so far as could be judged from a test of the work 
by closing the supply and blow-off pipes for seven days and as 
may be seen by an examination of the walls of the valve 
chamber. 

The work, although satisfactory, was expensive, mainly by 
reason of the inaccessibility of the locality. The principal 
element of the cost was the concrete, for which the contract 
price was $8.97 per cubic yard. 

A larger reservoir has since been constructed at Brightwood 
upon the same general principles, using clay as the plastic 
material to fill the key-ways between the wall sections. 

Although the Engineer Commissioner and the Ivngineer Officer 
Assistants are changed at intervals of four years or less, con- 
tinuity of methods and work is insured l)y the overlapping of 
terms and also 1)y the force of trained and faillifnl civil assist- 
ants, who, though receiving less pa>- than do similar (^thcials in 



50 

other cities of the size of Washington, are retained by the District 
simply by the certainty the}^ have of fair treatment, of due award 
of credit for good work, and of freedom from the danger of loss 
of office for political reasons. Fortunate is the cit}^ which has 
such servants. 

Incidentall}^ the periodical change of the Department heads 
brings to the work fresh ideas and fresh energy and prevents it 
from falling into the rut of routine fulfillment of dut3\ 

With a minimum of available funds, the municipal work of 
the District has been made a model, which, taken as a whole, is 
not excelled in this countr}^, and the Department is free from 
the slightCvSt suspicion of fraud or corruption. 

WASHINGTON MONUMENT* 
By Bernard R* Green^ Mem, Am, Soc* C. E,^ Superintendent of Construction* 

This is pureh^ a masonr^^ structure from bed of foundation to 
peak of pyramidion. The interior iron columns, stairway, land- 
ings, and the observation deck at the top of the shaft proper 
form no essential part of the Monument itself. Designed as an 
Egyptian obelisk, the object was a monolithic effect, and this is 
practically obtained at a moderate distance, where the fine joints 
and slightly varying shades of the individual stones are not 
apparent. At 150 feet above the base, however, there is a dis- 
tinct change of shade, especially in wet w^eather, between the old 
and new portions of the work. 

The dimensions of the Monument are: Total height, 555 feet 
S/s inches; shaft proper, 500 feet 5^8 inches; base, 55 feet 1% 
inches; top, 34 feet 5>^ inches; pyramidion, 55 feet high; inte- 
rior well, 25 feet square up to 150 feet, splaying out to 31 feet 
5>^ inches at 160 feet, and thus continuing to top of shaft ; batter 
of exterior, }{ inch to i foot ; thickness of walls at base, 15 feet, 
at top I foot 6 inches; foundation, 126 feet 6 inches square and 
36 feet 10 inches deep. 

As the original foundation was built 15 feet 8 inches above 
the then natural surface and subsequently buried by artificially 



51 

raising the mound about the Monument, the total height of 
structure actually built is 555 feet ^}i inches plus 15 feet 8 
inches = 571 feet i^s inches, but the present visible obelisk 
alone is still the highest masonry structure built by man by 
some 20 feet. 

It was built in two parts. The first by the Washington 
National Monument Society, a private organization, which 
raised some $300,000 by popular subscription. Excavation for 
the foundation, 80 feet square and only 7 feet 8 inches deep in 
an ordinary sandy clay alluvium, was begun in 1848, and the 
cornerstone laid on the bed on July 4th of that year. A solid 
rubble masonry footing, 80 feet square, stepped up to a height 
of 23 feet 4 inches and a width of 58 feet 6 inches square at the 
top, was built of blue gneiss rock from the Potomac shores near 
the city, in derrick sizes and smaller, in lime mortar. Barring 
the mortar, which naturally never hardened be3"ond the reach of 
atmospheric influence, the rubble work was good. On the top 
of this footing the Monument shaft was started with a white 
marble facing in 2-foot courses, with beds of 15 to 18 inches and 
a few headers, backed up with rubble masonry like that in the 
footing. In 1854 this had reached a height of 154 feet and 156 
feet in 1856, when, owing to lack of funds and other unfavorable 
conditions, the work came to an end and so remained, practically 
abandoned, until the Government assumed it by an Act of Con- 
gress on August 2, 1876, the Centennial year. 

The work had been prosecuted on a plan of obelisk whicli 
would be 600 feet high, involving a total weight of some (kS,ooo 
tons that would impose a load of 10.6 tons per square foot on 
the ordinary kind of soil described. At this time the \vci.i;ht 
had reached about 35,000 tons, and the U)acl was ah-cady 5)i 
tons per foot. What might have been the resuU of uninter- 
rupted prosperity of the vSociety and progress of the sliatt is 
startling conjecture for engineers of the present da>-. Wliatc\er 
original bench-mark may have existed was lost and the amount 
of settlement that must have occurred was unkuowu. Doubts 



52 

of stability naturalh^ arose as time went on, and the law there- 
fore conditioned the continuation of the shaft upon proper 
assurance of the sufficiency of the foundation. A board of engi- 
neers then made a thorough investigation and reported that the 
soil was already loaded to the limit of prudence, if not of safety. 

Then, on June 25, 1878, the work was placed in charge of 
Lieut. Col. (later Brigadier General) Thomas Lincoln Casey, of 
the Corps of Engineers, who was required to report a plan for 
properly strengthening the foundation. This was done wathin a 
month and the work accomplished during i879-'8o as follows: 

A much firmer stratum of gravel, sand, and small boulders 
existed at 13 feet 6 inches below the old foundation, which was 
underpinned wdth Portland cement concrete blocks 4 feet wide, 
13 feet 6 inches deep, 41 feet 3 inches long, 18 feet of which 
extended underneath. These were put in singly or in pairs, one 
on each opposite side, as the tendency of the Monument to lean 
towards the respective cuts appeared, and this was constant 
until a number of the blocks had been inserted. Frequent level 
observations were kept up on brass benches at the four corners 
of the shaft, w^hich showed an extreme sensitiveness to the least 
disturbance of the earth underneath the old foundation. Finally, 
the underpinning was completed, leaving, as will be noted, a 
block of untouched earth 44 feet square in the center. Jack- 
screws were used freely to retain the side pressures of the earth 
in the trenches, and the concrete was forced up under the old 
footing masonry with a swinging horizontal battering-ram 
timber. Then the old rubble work was quarried out around the 
sides in sections of about 10 feet wide, and concrete buttresses 
were inserted 2 to 3 feet under the edge of the shaft and extend- 
ing well out onto the projecting underpinning. When all were 
in they formed a continuous buttress all around. In this way 
70 per cent, of the original earth bed was cut away and substi- 
tuted by the concrete underpinning, 51 per cent, of the rubble 
footing was torn out, and 48 per cent, of the bed area of the shaft 
itself undermined and filled with concrete. 



53 

During this operation the total settlement of the structure 
was 2>^8 inches, the greatest difference between any two corners 
being ^z inch, which nearly corrected an original inclination 
of about i^z inches in the old shaft at 156 feet high. 

This accomplished, the continuation of the shaft was resumed 
on August 7, 1880, and the capstone set on December 6, 1884. 
The facing is white marble in 2 -foot courses of 2-foot bed in 
alternate headers and stretchers, backed up with cut granite, all 
laid in Portland cement mortar. 

The top of the shaft being but 18 inches thick and 34 feet 5 V2 
inches square, a unique design for a marble pyramidion was 
necessary, and was executed as follows : 

Thirty feet below the top of shaft three steep arch ribs 12 
inches thick start out on each of the four inside walls and ex- 
tend up, so that at the top the middle one projects 7 feet and the 
others 5 feet inward. Above this level the ribs continue with 
12-foot slabs on edge about 4 feet 6 inches high, the middle ones 
meeting at a common keystone and the others in pairs on the 
hip corners of the pyramidion. The latter consists of 7-inch 
slabs 4 feet 6 inches high and 7 feet or less in length, jointed 
like slightly overlapping tiles, independently carried by peculiar 
hook joints on the respective slab voussoirs of the arches, on 
which they rest crosswise. Above the keystone these covering 
slabs box around and rest on each other, terminating in a single 
pyramidal capstone about 5 feet in height. 

The total weight of the Monument, including the foundation 
and interior ironwork, is 90,854 tons, loading the foundation not 
over 10 tons per foot in the center, nor less than 3'j tons at tlic 
outer edges of the foundation. The construction of the shaft 
produced a further settlement of the foundation, making a total 
of about 4}3 inches, but no material change has occurred since. 

Neither winds nor changes of temperature produce an\ apprc 
ciable effects in the Monument. The ])ressure of wind on one 
flat face of the structure requisite to overturn it is joo ]H)unds 



54 

per square foot, and then it would break off at the junction of 
the old and new sections of the shaft, leaving the lower one 
standing. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BUILDING* 
By Bernard R» Green^ Mem. Am. Soc* C. E.^ Superintendent of Construction* 

This building is 470 feet long b}^ 340 feet wide, comprises a 
cellar and three stories, covers 3^ acres of ground, and vStands 
in a park containing about 10 acres. The plan is rectangular, 
w4th four interior courts and a central octagonal rotunda of 
100 feet interior and 140 feet exterior diameter, containing the 
main public reading room. The interior of the rotunda, crowned 
with a hemispherical dome, is 125 feet high in the clear, and the 
exterior finial is 195 feet above the ground. Between the courts 
are three special book stacks, each nine tiers high above 
the cellar, capable of shelving 1,800,000 volumes, while the 
adjacent wings of the building and alcoves of the great reading 
room ma}' be convenientl}' shelved for an equal number more, 
and this is gradually being done. The Librar}' contains a 
rapidh'-growing collection alread}' amounting to about 1,000,000 
volumes, besides large collections of maps, prints, music, etc. 
Spacious public exhibition halls are provided on the upper 
floor. 

The building is essentially a masonry structure, all walls 
being of granite or brick supporting iron floor girders and 
beams and the trussed iron-work of the roofs and domes. The 
pavillion floors of the main stor}' are generalh^ of pure brick 
vaulting, as are also some in the upper story. All floors are in 
heavy brick or terra cotta arching, and the roofs and domes 
both inner and outer, are of terra cotta and cement. The latter 
are covered with tinned copper throughout, and all skylights are 
of wire glass. 

Excepting three rooms which are wainscoted in oak, all door 
and window frames, casings, and base boards are made of cast 
iron or, in a few instances, of marble. Public floors are surfaced 



55 

with concrete, marble, or mosaic, and the cellar floor paved with 
brick. The book stacks are wholly of masonry, iron, marble, 
and plate glass. Thus the only wood used in the construction 
is to be found in the three wainscoted rooms above mentioned, 
the doors and window sashes, and a skin of boards laid on con- 
crete as a comfortable floor covering for the offices and working 
rooms. 

The exterior granite is from Concord, N. H., and that of the 
courts and rotunda from near Woodstock, Md. 

The building is amply lighted by day by some 2,200 windows 
the light in the courts being strengthened by reflection from 
white enameled brick walls. 

The foundations are wholly of concrete in trenches about 
6 feet deep in a uniform sandy clay and are spread to a limit of 
2^ tons load per square foot on the bed. 

All of the boilers, pumps, and coal vaults are located under 
the parking entirely outside the building. The elevator service 
is hydraulic and the heating system warm water, almost wholh^ 
by indirect radiation from stacks distributed throughout the 
cellar, through flues to the several rooms, taking fresh air 
direct from the courts and a wide continuous open area around 
the building outside. 

Three 100 K. W. and one 25 K. W. dynamos provide the power 
for illumination and the operation of ventilating fans and book- 
carrying machinery, practically all of which is required every 
evening, the Library being brilliantly lighted and open to the 
public until 10 o'clock. The exhaust steam from the power 
plant, supplemented when necessary by direct supply from the 
boilers through a reducing valve, is used to warm the water in 
the heating system l)y means of tul)ular heaters. There are six 
pairs of these heaters distributed in six different ])arts oi the 
cellar, each having its own independent circulating sxstciii 
thus obviating the use of large pipes, giving liner control, and 
facilitating repairs without affectino the general temperature 



56 

of the building. About 3,100 tons of coal are consumed 
annually, and the vaults are nearly large enough to hold that 
quantity. 

A unique book-conveying apparatus operates between the 
several tiers of each of the two main book stacks and the 
reading room deliver}^ desk. It consists of a pair of endless 
sprocket chains running downward from the reading room to 
the cellar, thence horizontally to the middle of the stack, 
whence it rises verticall}^ to the top and returns to the starting 
point by a parallel route. Eighteen suspended book tra3^s are 
distributed equidistant along and between the chains, and are 
so contrived with automatic racks at the several stations in 
the reading room and stack decks that books are quickl}"- sent 
and delivered b}' the aid only of station attendants. Pneumatic 
tubes are used in conjunction for the quick transmission of 
reader's tickets and messages. 

An analogous apparatus, with an endless steel cable, is used 
through a tunnel under ground between the reading room and 
a station in the Capitol, with an auxiliar}^ pneumatic tube and 
a telephone, for the service of Congress and the Supreme 
Court. 

The real construction of the building was begun in 1889 and 
entireh^ finished, including approaches and grounds out to the 
street curbs, in 1897, at a total cost of $6,344,588.34. It con- 
tains about 10,000,000 cubic feet. To engineers it is an inter- 
esting fact that the entire control and management of the work^ 
including its design, was in the hands of engineers from begin- 
ning to end. 

ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM OF WASHINGTON. 
By David S. Carll, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E., Chief Engineer. 

The street railways of Washington are practically all under 
the control of two distinct companies — the Capital Traction 
Company and the Washington Railway and Electric Company. 



57 

There are about i6o miles of single track and all operated by 
electricity. About 88 miles of this is operated by the under- 
ground or open conduit system. 

The first open conduit electric system used in Washington 
and the first, or about the first in the countr}^, was the Love 
system, which was put down on U and Eighteenth streets 
northwest — about one mile of double track. It was in operation 
from March 4, 1893, to April 11, 1899. While this was kept in 
fairly successful operation it was, in the writer's opinion, far 
from perfect. 

In the fall of 1894 the then Metropolitan Railroad Company 
took up the subject of open conduit electric railwa}', and under 
Mr. A. N. Connett, a member of this Society, as Chief Engineer, 
the present open conduit electric S3"stem was adopted and 
installed on the Ninth Street division and put in successful 
operation August, 1895, and shortly afterward installed on its 
F Street division from Fifteenth and East Capitol streets to 
Thirty-sixth street in Georgetown. 

In 1892 the then Washington and Georgetown Railroad 
Company had equipped all of its lines (about 22 miles') with the 
cable system, which were operated by two power houses, one 
at the foot of Seventh street and the other almost opposite 
Willard Hotel, where the stack and engine foundations may 
still be seen. 

The destruction of the large central power station on the 
night of September 29, 1897, led to the adoption of the open 
conduit electric system by the Capital Traction Company. 

Contracts were made and work of conversion began ahnost at 
once, so that about 14 miles of single track which had been put 
out of mechanical operation was again under full mechanical 
operation April 20, 1898. While this work was going on the 
lines were operated by horses, temporary track being used on 
the side of the streets, so that no great interference was ofTered 
in pushing the work. The cable conduit was used throughout. 



58 

The insulators for carrying the conductor bar consists of a 
cast-iron cup with corrugated interior surface and a lug for 
bolting to the slot rail. In the casting is placed a heav}^ 
porcelain insulator carrying an iron bolt which supports a 
malleable iron clip for carrying the conductor rail. 

In the original conduit manholes had been placed every 31^^ 
feet for carrying-pulleys for the cable. These were utilized for 
placing the insulators which were bolted to the base of the slot 
bar. In addition, it was necessary to place a handhole opposite 
each manhole and also two handholes midway between, so that 
the conductor bar is supported ever}^ 15)^ feet. 

In order to permit of the insulators being fastened at existing 
manholes it was necessar}^ to cut aw^a}' the side of the manhole 
frames which rested on the slot rail so that all the frames had to 
be removed and reset. 

The conductor bars are carried thirteen inches below grade 
and consist of a standard ''T" section weighing 23 V2 pounds to 
^he 3^ard, with an area of 2.3 square inches. The conductor 
bars are bonded with two 4-0 flexible copper bonds. 

A small angle iron i inch x i inchx H inch was riveted to the 
under head of the slot rail for drip pieces, designed to prevent 
water from running dowm the sides of the conduit. Their use 
was opposed b}' the writer, and he still thinks, after four years 
experience, that they were unnecessar3\ 

A trench was excavated between the tracks and ducts were 
laid almost the entire length of the line for the installation of 
feeder cables. Over 382,000 feet of duct was laid and some- 
where about 356,000 lineal feet of 1,000,000 C. M., paper insulated, 
lead incased, copper cable was installed. 

As soon as the work w^as done on the Pennsylvania avenue 
and Fourteenth street division it was decided to convert also 
the Seventh street division, which was being operated by 
cable. 

There was some question whether the conductor bar could be 
put in place and allow the cable cars to remain in operation. It 



59 

was, however, strongly advocated b}^ the contractor's general 
superintendent, Mr. I. Fisher, and after thorough consideration 
it was determined to keep the cable cars running while the work 
was being done. The greater portion of the work was done in 
the daytime, but some work, such as putting the conductor bar 
in place, had to be done at night. 

The work was carried through successfully, and on the night 
of Ma}" 24, 1898, the last cable car left the northern terminus 
at 12 o'clock. The cable was cut in two, and, with a grip car at 
either end, the two pieces were pulled into the power house. 
The conductor bars were connected to the feeder cables, adjust- 
ments made at crossings and cut-outs, and at 5.15 A. M., May 25, 
1898, fifteen minutes later than the schedule time called for, the 
first electric car was started, with entire interruption to regular 
service of about one hour, and probabl}^ not over fifty people 
knew or had any idea that there had been the least interruption, 
as this occurred at a time of night when there was practically 
no riding. 

This was the first cable line changed to an electric line without 
interruption. 

The drip angle was not used on this division except at a very 
few low places. 

The entire cost of the construction, including feeder cables 
and ducts on the Pennsylvania avenue and Fourteenth street 
lines, was a little over eleven dollars per foot of double track, 
while on seventh street it was a little under eleven dollars. 

The entire conduit system of the Capital Traction Company, 
about 30 miles, is operated from one power house, located at 
Thirty-second and Grace streets, Georgetown, on the Chcsaj^eake 
and Ohio Canal, from which water is secured for condcnsiiii;-. 
and over which coal is brought direct from tlie mines. 

The station is equipped with coal and ash handling inacliincry, 
water filtering plant, steel stack i 30 feet high b> feet in diameter, 
eight water tube boilers of ^cx) horse ]H)\ver each, mechanical 
stokers, coal storage bins of 2,000 tons ca])acity, live tandem com- 



60 

pound condensing engines of 800 horse power each, 20 x 40 x 42 
inches, five direct connected generators, 525 K. W., three booster 
sets, switch-board 50 feet long, jet condensers, feed water 
heaters, etc. 

Mr. Carroll Hoshall is the Chief Engineer at the station and 
will be pleased to show an^^ member of the Society through. 

The power station of the United States Electric Lighting 
Company, Fourteenth and B streets northwest, building 
240 X 120 feet, contains about 5,500 horse power boiler equip- 
ment, fitted with Hawle}^ down draft furnaces; coal and ash 
handling machinery; Green economizers. Three pairs direct 
connected generators 250 K. W. each; one pair direct connected 
generators 500 K. W. ; one lighting unit 600 K. W. ; eight 
brush arc machines 125 lights each; three railway units. 

Potomac electric power station, Thirt3-third and Grace 
streets northwest, contains four Green & Wheelock engines, 
two of which are direct connected to 300 K. W., 6,000 volt, 
60 cycle alternators, and two direct connected 500 K. W., 
500 volt direct current generators. 

Power station. Four-and-a-half and P streets southwest, 
contains three Green engines, direct connected 300 K. W. 
generators; one Mcintosh & Seymour, direct connected 500 
K. \V. generators; six boilers. 

The three power stations above are under the supervision of 
]\Ir. L. E. Sinclair, General Superintendent. C. W. Wilson, 
Chief Engineer. 

Members of the Society will be welcomed at these stations 
any time during the convention. 

THE WASHINGTON AQUEDUCT SYSTEM* 
By CoL A. M. Miller, U. S, A., Mem. Am. Soc. C. K, Engineer in Charge* 

The following is a concise description of the Washington 
Aqueduct System : 

The w^ater supply is taken from the Potomac River at Great 
Falls, about 14 miles above the city. 



61 

At this point a masonry dam extends across the river from 
the Maryland to the Virginia shores. Its total length is 2,877 
feet, and the width of its crest in the Virginia channel and across 
Conn's Island is 8 feet 3 inches, and in the Maryland channel 7 
feet 9 inches. In i895-'96 the crest of the dam was raised from 
reference of 148 feet above mean tide at the Washington Xavy 
Yard to 150.5 feet above the same datum plane. 

The top of the mouth of the feeder of the conduit at Great 
Falls is at a reference of 149 feet and the bottom at a reference 
of 139.5 feet. 

The water passes from the feeder through the gate-house and 
into the conduit, which at this point has a reference of 152 feet 
at the interior surface of the crown of the arch. 

The slope of the conduit is uniform between the gate-house 
at Great Falls and the distributing reservoir, and is 9 inches in 
5,000 feet. 

The conduit is circular in cross-section, and for the greater 
part of its entire length is 9 feet in diameter, and composed of 
rubble masonry plastered, or of three rings of brick, but where 
the soil in which it was built was considered particularly good 
the inner ring of brick was omitted and the diameter is 9 feet 9 
inches. Where the conduit passes as an unlined tunnel through 
rock the excavation was sufficient to contain an inscribed circle 
II feet in diameter. 

The lengths of the conduit and its connections are as follows : 

I^ength of feeder at Great Falls, 256 feet. Area of cross- 
section at mouth, 157.45 square feet. IvCngth of conduit 
between gate-house at Great Falls and north connection ot 
Dalecarlia reservoir, 47,896.5 feet; least diameter, 9 feet. 

Length of by-conduit around Dalecarlia reservoir, j. 730.5 
feet; diameter for 625 feet, 8 feet; for rest of distance, 9 feet. 

lycngth of conduit between south connection of the Dalecarlia 
reservoir and north connection of the distributing reservoir, 
10,149.87 feet; diameter of conduit, 9 feet. 

Length of by-conduit around the distribiitiiii; reservoir, 
2,274.35 feet; diameter, 7 feet. 



02 

At the distributing reservoir the water passes into four cast- 
iron mains, 48 inches, 36 inches, 30 inches, and 12 inches in 
diameter, respectivel}^ 

The Dalecarlia reservoir has a storage capacit}' of about 
150,000,000 gallons, is practicall}^ without paved slope wall, is 
perfectly protected against pollution from the drainage of the 
surrounding countr\^, and is provided with a spillway, the refer- 
ence of the bottom of which is 146.5 feet. The reference of the 
interior surface of the crown of the arch of the conduit at the 
north connection of this reservoir is 143.77 feet and at the south 
connection 143.39 ^^^t- The distance between these points, 
measured along the line of flow of the water across the reser- 
voir, is about 3,550 feet. 

The distributing reservoir has a storage capacity of about 
150,850,000 gallons, and is divided by a puddled and paved wall, 
through which is a passagew^ay, which can be closed with stop- 
planks into two sections, containing 97,600,000 and 53,250,000 
gallons, respectively. 

The interior surface of the crowm of the arch of the conduit at 
the north connection of this reservoir has a reference of 141.87 
feet. 

In addition to the three reservoirs already mentioned, which 
form a part of the Aqueduct S3\stem, there is another reservoir, 
built and controlled by the Commissioners of the District of 
Columbia, called the Fort Reno reservoir, with a capacit}^ of 
about 4,500,000 gallons, the reference of its water surface, when 
the reservoir is full, being about 420 feet. 

The Dalecarlia, distributing, and new reservoirs supply the U 
Street pumping station and that part of the District which lies 
below 90 feet above datum. The areas lying between the levels 
of 90 and 220 feet above datum are supplied b}^ pumping from 
the XT Street station directly into the distributing mains, and by 
the use of the new Brightwood reservoir, built by the Commis- 
sioners of the District of Columbia, and having a capacity of 
30,000,000 gallons. The areas having a greater elevation than 



63 

220 feet above datum are supplied from the Fort Reno reservoir. 

There has been added, for increasing the water supply of 
Washington, a tunnel from the divStributing reservoir to a new 
reservoir situated near the Howard Universit3\ The new 
reservoir has a capacity of 300,000,000 gallons, thus raising the 
capacity of storage to 637,000,000 gallons. 

The new reservoir, being situated about 4 miles east of the 
present distributing reservoir, occupies a more central distrib- 
uting point, and thus somewhat reduces the loss of head now 
obtaining at Capitol Hill and east thereof. The level of water 
in this reservoir will be 144, and adds about 12 feet additional 
height to the water delivered at Capitol Hill. 

Until the average daily consumption of water becomes con- 
siderably greater than at present, the reference of the surface 
of the water at the lowest stage of the Potomac will be about 
151 feet at the mouth of the feeder at Great Falls; about 146.75 
feet at the Dalecarlia reservoir, and 146 feet at the distributing 
reservoir. 



64 



The following table gives the daih^ consumption of water by 
the District of Columbia as furnished b}' the Washington 
Aqueduct for the last twenty-eight years: 



1874.. 
1875 • 
1876.. 
1877.. 
1878 . 
1879 . 
1880.. 
1881.. 
1882 . 
188s.. 
18S4.. 
1885 .. 
1886.. 



1889 . 
1890.. 
189 1 . 
1892.. 
1893.. 
1894.. 
1895.. 



1898 . 
1899.. 
T900 . 
1901.. 



Daih' cou- 
suniptiou. 



Gallons. 

17,554,848 
21,000,000 
24,177,797 
23-252,932 
24,885.945 
25,947,642 
25.740,138 
26.525.991 
29.727,864 

24.314,715 
24,827,113 
25,219.194 
25.542,476 
26,878,424 
29,115.774 

27,708,779 
35,541,845 
38,594.743 
41.161,780 
46,727,108 
49,162,357 
47,182,681 
44,113,574 
45,467.047 
47,288,733 
50,079,855 
50,897,227 
53.960,998 



Popula- 
tion, 



0130,182 
0138.091 
0146,000 

«i.S3>909 
ar6i,8i8 
0169,727 
6177.638 
0182,893 
0187,968 

«I93,I33 
0198,198 
c 203, 459 
0208,358 
«2i3,357 
0218.157 
"225,309 
6232,460 
024.8.539 
0264,6^18 
0267,569 
0270,519 
0272,677 
0274,815 
0276,963 
0277.548 
«278,i33 
6278,718 
0279,293 



Amouut 
per cap- 
ita per 
diem. 



Gallons. 

134 
152 
165 
151 
154 
153 
145 
145 
158 
126 

125 
124 
123 
126 

133 
123 
153 
155 
156 
171 
182 
173 
161 

163 
170 
180 
183 
193 



o E.stimated. 



6 United States census. 



c Police census. 



SEWERAGE OF WASHINGTON. 
By D. E. McGomb^ Mem. Am. Soc* C. E.^ Superintendent of Sewers. 

The city of Washington is situated at the confluence of the 
Potomac and Anacostia rivers. Rock Creek, which separates 
Washington from Georgetown, forms a portion of its westerly 
boundar3\ 

The valley of Tiber Creek, which discharged into the Potomac 
River near the foot of Seventeenth street, is the most important 
drainage line within the oity. In its lower portion it forms a 
depression within which the street grades are from 6 to 10 feet 
above mean high tide. A similar depression connects the valle}^ 



65 

of Tiber Creek with the Anacostia River. In 1831 a canal was 
constructed through these depressions, connecting the Potomac 
and Anacostia Rivers. After the introduction of the Potomac 
water supply in 1859 ^^^ demand for the construction of sewers 
began, and as those constructed discharged into the Washington 
Canal, it was not long before the condition of the canal became 
so foul that in 1871 it was condemned as a nuisance and the 
Board of Public Works decided to abandon it. 

The Tiber and B street sewers, discharging, respectiveh^, into 
James Creek and Seventeenth street canal, were constructed to 
receive the sewage previously discharged into the Washington 
canal, after which that canal was filled. 

Main sewers were constructed in the natural valley lines, and 
to meet deficiencies in capacity of some of the main sewers' 
intercepting sewers were constructed, the largest of which is 
the northeast boundary sewer, with a circular section 22 feet in 
diameter, which intercepts the drainage from the upper portion 
of the Tiber Creek valley. 

The low area of the city, within the depressions above noted, 
is subject to inundation during freshet stages of the Potomac 
River. 

In 1890 a report to Congress was submitted by a board of 
engineers consisting of Messrs. Rudolph Hering, Samuel M 
Gray, and Frederick P. Stearns (Members of the American 
Society of Civil Engineers), in which recommendations were 
made as follows : "The construction of intercepting sewers to 
collect and convey all sewage to a pumping station on the north 
bank of the Anacostia River. At this point the installation o( 
machinery to raise the sewage to such an elevation that it will 
discharge by gravity through an inverted siphon across the 
Anacostia River, and an outfall sewer to a point on the easterly 
shore of the Potomac River near the United States Naval 
Magazine. The construction of dykes at the westerly and 
southerly ends of the low area. The construction of a trunk 
drain to the pumping station, and the installation of machinery 



66 

to raise and discharge into the Anacostia River the low area 
storm drainage during freshet stage of the river." 

Work has progressed slowh' upon these lines, the appropria- 
tions made for the work having been too small for its rapid 
execution. Several of the intercepting sewers have been con- 
structed and authorit}' has been granted to make contracts for 
the pumping station. Contracts for the pumping machinery 
have been made with the Allis-Chalmers Compan}' of Wis- 
consin. These will be centrifugal pumps revolving on vertical 
axes. 

The work now in progress consists of the construction of a 
portion of the Tiber Creek and New Jersey avenue high level 
intercepting sewer, 14 feet in diameter, with outlet chambers^ 
and gates to permit the discharge of water, during storms, into 
the Anacostia River. The outlet is situated at the southerly 
end of New Jerse}^ avenue. 

The sewers first constructed in Washington were designed 
for the removal of storm water from the streets and roofs of 
houses. 

In 1 87 1 authority was granted to permit the discharge of 
sewage into the public sewers, and since that time the sewers 
have been designed to convey both storm water and sewage. 
The smaller sewers are of earthenware pipes laid upon concrete 
beds with concrete envelope at each joint. The joints of the 
older pipe sewers were not well protected and much inconveni- 
ence was experienced from the intrusion of tree roots. Sewers 
of greater size than 2 feet diameter are constructed of concrete 
and brick masonry, the w^earing surface being of vitrified 
bricks. 

The sizes are determined by the use of an empiric diagram, 
which is based on the assumption that an amount of rainfall 
equal to a rate of 3 inches per hour will be contributed by areas 
of 10 acres or less and that the rate contributed by areas greater 
than 10 acres will decrease as the area increases. No addition 
to the size is made on account of the sewage contribution. 



67 

THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA* 

By Charles Moore^ Secretary Park Commission* 

The District of Columbia is on the eve of a development so 
stupendous that the mind fails to grasp the full significance of 
the work that is about to be done. For this great undertaking 
the engineers have already laid broad foundations; but they 
must continue to work hand in hand with the architect and the 
landscape architect ; and the three must in turn call in the 
sculptor and the painter to enrich and adorn their work. 

The great merit of the plans prepared by the Park Commis- 
sion is, first, that they reinstate the original plan of the city of 
Washington, made by L' Enfant, the engineer, under the direct 
supervision of President WavShington and his Secretary of State, 
Jefferson ; second, that they bring into the new composition the 
work of those modern engineers who have made the reclaimed 
Potomac Flats into a park that supplements and rounds out the 
original Mall, so that the new and the old areas when developed 
as a unit will form a composition that for size, dignity, and 
beauty is without an equal in the modern world; and, third, 
that in the outlying park connection, and especially in the pro- 
posed water park on the Anacostia, the landscape architect and 
the engineer will co-operate to produce works of great public 
utility, which will be at the same time strikingly beautiful. 

In these modern times the division of labor has been carried 
to such an extreme as to make cooperation imperative. The 
day has passed when the engineer looked upon the architect as 
one who merely affixed ornaments to a well-constructed piece of 
engineering; and the architect regarded the engineer as possibly 
a safe but surely an awkward constructor. Leonardo Da \^inci 
and Michael Angelo were great engineers as well as great artists ; 
and the best architects and engineers to-day find it to their advan- 
tage to form mutual associations, so that in the result beauty 
and stability may go hand in hand. 



68 

There are two reasons wli}^ the plans of the Park Commission 
have found such ready acceptance. The first is that the times 
were ripe for some comprehensive and harmonious scheme 
w^hich should establish orderly relations as well among existing 
edifices as among those in contemplation ; and the second is that 
the members of the Commission were not above seeking advice 
from, and entering into consultation with, those persons in the 
District of Columbia who have problems to solve. The aim of 
the Commission w^as to be useful rather than original. 

Briefly stated, the plans aim to establish about the Capitol 
grounds a series of public buildings having a common relation 
to legislative work, this square to be dominated b}^ the beautiful 
dome of the Capitol itself, the most impressive legislative edifice 
in the world. Then to restore to the west front of the Capitol 
grounds its original straight line of i,6oo feet, which is also the 
width of the Mall proper. Between the grounds of the Capitol 
and the Mall a connection is made by means of Union Square, a 
broad thoroughfare enriched b}' parterres of green, enlivened 
b}' fountains, and adorned b}' the statues of Grant and his great 
lieutenants, Sherman and Sheridan, arranged so as to form a 
single composition. From the Capitol to the Monument a 
broad carpet of green, walled on either side b}^ four rows of 
elms, brings those two structures into axial relations. These 
elms, marching up the Monument slope, deploy to the right and 
left on broad terraces, and become the great support for the 
towering shaft that is alike wonderful as an engineering feat 
and beautiful as a work of art. 

From the western base of the Monument steps, 300 feet in 
breadth — the wadth of the tapis vert of the Mall — lead down 
40 feet to the terrace-enclosed sunken garden. Thus not onh' 
does the Monument gain that much additional height, but by 
means of this garden axial relations are entered into with the 
White House, as L'Enfant himself planned eleven decades ago. 

At the White House, with Lafayette Square as a center, are 
to be grouped the great departmental buildings, thus establish- 



69 



ing an Executive group to correspond with the Legislative 
group on Capitol Hill. Between the White House and the 
Monument is the drill-ground of the District — the place of the 
soldier. Between the Monument and the Potomac on the 
south are the play-grounds and pleasure-grounds — the people's 
common. 

Between the Monument and the river on the west, the 
reclaimed lands of the Potomac Park are to be treated as a 
wood, through the center of which vStretches a grand canal, 




ARLINGTON, VA. 

3,200 feet in length and 200 feet broad. At the western 
extremity of this canal, on the axis of the Ca])it()l and the 
Monument, is to stand a Doric portico of noble proportions 
erected to the memory of the one man whose name the wide 
world has coupled with that of George Washington— to the 
memory of Abraham Lincoln. 



70 

This Lincoln Memorial becomes the point of divergence and 
reunion for the park S3'stem. From this rond-point proceed the 
drives down the river to the island portion of Potomac Park ; up 
the river to Rock Creek, and thence to the Zoological and Rock 
Creek parks ; across the river b}' the Memorial Bridge to the 
Arlington estate, which thus becomes a vital part of the Dis- 
trict park S3'stem. 

The development of the banks of the Potomac for sixteen 
miles up to Great Falls and for fourteen miles down to Mount 
A^ernon ; the lines of connection between the parks — one line 
taking in the sites of the chain of forts that surrounded Wash- 
ington from 1 86 1 to 1865 ; the treatment of the commercial 
water front b}' a system of qua3's carrying driveway's ; the 
development of the Arsenal propert}' (the location of the War 
College and School for Engineers) so as to make beautiful the 
water approach to Washington ; the assembling of the seven 
railroads entering Washington, in one magnificent white marble 
station 8 feet 8 inches longer than the Capitol itself — all of 
these projects are part and parcel of the one great plan, once 
but a fitful dream, but now fast becoming a coherent realit3\ 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, SURVEYOR AND CIVIL ENGINEER, 
By Herbert M. Wilson, Mem. Am. Soc. C. E. 

It is well known, in a general way, that George Washington 
commenced his career as a surve^'or, but there are no connected 
records of his work in that line, and the meager information one 
can find in the accounts of his life does not give an adequate 
conception of his proficiency and activity as a surveyor or of his 
unusual ability and the vast amount of important work which 
he conceived as a civil engineer. 

Washington is reported to have evinced marked aptitude for 
mathematics at the early age of eleven. He took a course in 
surveying and navigation at Mr. Williams' school, in Westmore- 
land County, Virginia, and became so interested in these branches 



71 

that later he served a special apprenticeship in practical work 
under Mr. James Genn, a licensed surveyor. In the Clerk's 
Office of Culpeper Court-House is recorded the following : 

''The 2oth of July, 1749 (O- S.) George Washington, Gent., 
produced a commission from the president and master of Wil- 
liam and Mary's College, appointing him to be surveyor of this 
county, which was read, and thereupon he took the usual 
oaths." 

His proficienc}^ in this line led to his employment by Lord 
Fairfax in 1748, when but a bo}^ of 16, to survey certain por- 
tions of his Lordship's estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains. 
During the next four years he devoted his time to making the 
surveys incident to land sales, having the general direction, also, 
of his Lordship's land office. 

The firvSt record of a surve}" made by George Washington is as 
follows : 

''March y. 15th 1747-8. Surve3''d for George Fairfax, Esqr. 
a tract of land lying on Cates Marsh and Long Marsh Begin- 
ning at three Red Oaks Fx on a Ridge the N° Side a Spring 
Branch being corner to y^ 623 Acre Tract & Extending thence 
N° 30° E^ 436 poles to a Large Hickory and Red Oak Fx near 
John Cozines house thence N^ 60° W^ 90 poles to a Large White 
Oak Fx thence N^ 7° E^ 365 poles to Long Marsh," etc. 

Another record of his early work is as foHows: 

*" SURVEY'D for Richard Barnes, Gent of Richmond County 
a certain Tract of Waste and ungranted Land Situate Lying 
and being in the county of Culpeper and Bounded as followcth 
Beginning at three white Oaks in Normans Line and Corner 
Trees to (Aaron Pinson's now) Mr. Barnes's Land ^S: extciuling 
thence N^ 42" 30^ W*^ Ninety five Poles to a branch of IHat 



*For this survey Washington received the sum of (.2 3s od o\\ tho 2^{\\ 
of July, 1749, as shown by entry in his cash l)oc)k; a co]\v ot wliich is in 
the Toner Collection, Library of Congress, Washington , W C. 



72 

Run Two hiind and Eighteen Poles to a Large White Oak 
Corner to Xorman etc. * ^ * thence with his Line X° 53° 
E^ One hund'^ and Eighty Six Poles to the Beginning Contain- 
ing Four Hundred Acres this Twent}' Second Da}' of Juh^ i749- 

John Lonem ) ^^^^ ^^^^ 
Edward Corder - 
Edward Hogan ) Marker 
by 

Washington S C C." 

The following is a copy from one of his more recent note- 
books, and shows the improvement in his later work : 

" From the center of the road leading to the Mill, at the White 
gate, (the course of that road being X 74 W) the following 
courses and distances were run and measured : 

X° 7J4 E 42 poles to a blazed red oak on the left of the 

road ; thence along the new marked line. 
X 21 ^4 E at 104 poles came to the first hollow, 
at 126 do came to the 2nd hollow, 
at 146 do came to the cross line leading 
to Mudd}' Hole gate; and at 174 poles 
came to the old road leading to the Gum Spring ; 
thence along that, etc." 

It is a matter of record that, while Major L'Enfant is to be 
credited with working out the details embodied in the plans of 
Washington City, it was President Washington who, as consult- 
ing engineer, directed the work of L'Enfant. Washington and 
L'Enfclnt made several trips over the site of the cit}', and the 
former personally selected the location of the Capitol, of the 
White House, and of other prominent buildings. Moreover, to 
him L'Enfant submitted at least two plans of the cit}^ in which 
Washington made corrections. It is clear, therefore, that to the 
latter is due the honor of being the chief or consulting engineer 
of the new Capital. 

Washington was also a military engineer of no mean ability. 
In 1752 the engineer of the Ohio Company-, Mr. Chistopher Gist, 



73 



recommended the erection of a fort at McKee's Rocks, a few 
miles below Pittsburg, on the east side of the Ohio. Concern- 
ing this, Washington says in his diary : 

''I think it greatly inferior, either for defense or advantage, 
especially the latter; for a fort at the forks would be equally 
w^ell situated on the Ohio, and have the entire command of the 
Monongahela." 

In 1754 Washington was commissioned colonel of a Virginia 
regiment, with orders to cross the Allegheny Mountains and 
protect the men of the Ohio Company who were trading in that 
section, and to build forts. On the outward march, and as the 




MOUNT VERNON, VA. 



company was nearing the French forces, a temporarv fort, 
known as Fort Necessity, was thrown up on a tributary of the 
Youghiogheny River. On his return Washington sent tlrafts 
of plans of two forts to the Governor of \'irginia. 



74 

It was upon his return, in 1754, from his trip across the 
mountains that Washington began to ponder the great engineer- 
ing problems to which he devoted the greater part of the latter 
years of his life. He had conceived those gigantic works for 
internal communication between the coast and the western 
country which have since been elaborated into some of the most 
extensive schemes of transportation b}" water, highway, and 
railway that the world has ever seen, and from this time forth 
he investigated them in the true spirit of the civil engineer. 
Immediate!}" upon his return from the trip above referred to he 
reported to the Governor of Virginia in favor of a scheme of 
communication betw^een the Atlantic States and the great West. 
The next year, while aide to General Braddock in his disastrous 
campaign against the French and Indians, he retraversed much 
of the same route, and upon his return prepared a map, still in 
existence, which shows the relations between the headwaters 
of the Potomac, the Monongahela, the Youghiogheny, and 
neighboring streams, and the portages which should be opened 
up to admit of water and portage transportation between the 
Atlantic coast and the headwaters of the Mississippi. 

Washington was undoubtedly the originator and promoter 
of the Potomack Company, from which sprang later the 
Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 

It was through his efforts that the Virginia Legislature 
passed a bill empowering such individuals as were so disposed to 
embark in the enterprise to open the Potomack, so as to render 
it navigable from tide water to Wills Creek (Fort Cumberland.) 

Washington was not onl}^ the first to map and recommend 
the general route of the great highways called the National 
Pike and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, w^hich later in truth 
became, to quote him, ''the channels of conveyance of the 
extensive and valuable trade of a rising empire," but he was 
also the first to commend and predict the commercial success 
of that route through the Mohawk valley w^hich was afterwards 
taken by the Erie Canal and the New York Central Railroad, 



75 

The National Pike, the route of which was practically located 
by him and the construction of which he planned, from the 
Great Falls of the Potomac to Pittsburg, w^as, and still is, as 
many of you may not know, one of the best aligned, best 
graded, and best macadamized roads in America. 

'' I have, lately," said Washington, in a letter to the Marquis 
of Chastellux, ''made a tour through the Lakes George and 
Champlain, as far as Crown Point ; then returning to Schenectady, 
I proceeded upon the Mohawk River to Fort Schuyler, crossed 
over to Wood Creek, which empties into the Oneida Lake, and 
affords the water communication with Ontario ; I then traversed 
the country to the head of the eastern banks of the Susquehanna? 
and viewed the Lake Otsego, and the portage between that Lake 
and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie. Prompted by these 
actual observations, I could not help taking a more contem- 
plative and extensive view of the vavSt inland navigation of 
these United States, and could not but be struck with the 
immense diffusion and importance of it ; and with the goodness 
of that Providence who has dealt his favors to us with so profuse 
a hand. Would to God we may have wisdom to improve them ! 
I shall not rest contented until I have explored the western 
country, and traversed those lines, or a great part of them, 
which have given bounds to a new empire." 

There is little definite record of actual construction of engi- 
neering work by Washington. There is no doubt, however, 
that he laid out the route and partly built a portion of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on the Virginia side, from the Great 
P'alls towards Alexandria. Later the location of this canal was 
changed to the Maryland side, but the portion above referred to 
was excavated under his supervision and some locks were built 
upon it under his direction. 

In the beginning of the autumn of 17S4 General Washington 
made a tour as far west as Pittsburg. On returning, his first 
moments of leisure were devoted to the task of engaging his 
countrymen in a w^ork which, though of great commercial 



76 

importance, appeared to him to merit attention chief!}' by reason 
of its political influence on the Union. In a long and inter- 
esting letter to Mr. Harrison, then Governor of Virginia, he 
detailed the advantages which might be derived from opening 
the great rivers, the Potomac and the James, as high as should 
be practicable. He suggested the "appointment of commis- 
sioners of integrity and abilities, exempt from the suspicion of 
prejudice, whose dut}' it should be, after an accurate examina- 
tion of the James and the Potomac, to search out the nearCvSt 
and best portages, between those waters and the streams capable 
of improvement w^hich run into the Ohio." Those streams were 
to be accurately surveyed, the impediments to their navigation 
ascertained, and their relative advantages examined. The navi- 
gable waters west of the Ohio, towards the great Lakes, were 
also to be traced to their sources, and those which empty into 
the I^akes to be followed to their mouths. 

" I need not remark to you. Sir," said Washington in his 
letter to the Governor of Virginia, ''that the flanks and rear of 
the United States are possessed by other powders — and formid- 
able ones too ; nor need I press the necessity of applying the 
cement of interest to bind all parts of the Union together b}^ 
indissoluble bonds — especially of binding that part of it which 
lies immediately west of us, to the Middle States. For what 
ties, let me ask, should we have upon those people, how entirely 
unconnected with them shall we be ? * * * Until the Spaniards 
(very unwisely I think) threw difficulties in their way, they 
looked down the Mississippi — and they looked that way for 
no other reason than because they could glide gently down the 
stream, w^ithout considering, perhaps, the fatigues of the voyage 
back again, and the time necessary for its performance; and 
because the}' have no other means of coming to us, but by a 
long land transportation through unimproved roads." 

To a member of the National I^egislature he observed con- 
cerning the same subject: ''Extend the inland navigation of 
the eastern waters — connect them as near as possible with those 



77 

which run westward ; open these to the Ohio ; open also such as 
extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie — and we shall not only 
draw the produce of the western settlers, but the peltry and fur 
trade of the Lakes, also, to our ports, thus adding an immense 
increase to our exports, and binding those people to us by a 
chain which can never be broken." 

One hundred and fifteen years ago Washington asked : " Would 
it not be worthy of the wisdom and attention of Congress to 
have the western waters well explored, the navigation of them 
fully ascertained and accurately laid down, and a complete and 
perfect map made of the country?" 

Here at Arlington you may find a memorandum by Wash- 
ington of the measurement of the altitude of the porch pavement 
above mean low tide of the Potomac River, showing the same 
to be 124 feet io}4 inches. Washington's compass is here, as is 
also the tripod which he used to support his instrument. About 
you are evidences of his skill as a landscape gardener. 

It is thus evident that George Washington possessed unusual 
ability for his day as a surveyor. His maps and the records of 
his surveys are among the best of that time. So remarkably 
acute and comprehensive was his vision, it is not strange that in 
this pursuit he could not rest content wdth mere land surveying, 
but must pass on to exploratory surveying and to consideration 
of the relations existing between the drainage basins of an 
extent of territory greater than had probably ever before been 
compassed by the mind of surveyor or engineer. The brilliancy 
of his conceptions, the vigor with which he pressed his plans 
before state and national legislatures, and the fact that his phiiis 
have since been carried out in whole or in part, entitle him to 
rank as the first and one of the ablest of the civil eni;ineers of 
America. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 928 362 5 



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CABIN JOHN AQUEDUCT BRIDGE 



